International stocks continue to gain popularity as investors look to align their portfolios with emerging market economies and creditor nations. Brazilian stocks have been at the top of the list, with the South American juggernaut being fueled by a pro-growth government, booming exports and the modernization of its infrastructure.

Pro-Growth Government

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, otherwise known as "Lula", has led the country's pro-growth strategy, appointing the market oriented economist and former CEO of Bank Boston Henrique Meirelles as head of the Brazilian Central Bank. Lula and his administration quickly strengthened the country's relationship with the IMF by renewing agreements and paying off its debt early.

Next up was the Growth Acceleration Program, an initiative designed to free the country's economy from growth constraints. By 2008 Brazil had became a creditor nation, with its debt recently getting the nod from Standard & Poors

...

Keep an eye on the Chinese and Brazilian stock markets on Monday.

The two emerging market nations - both members of the BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) - will each welcome a major new IPO to their respective stock markets.

The fact that they’re debuting on the same day is purely coincidental, but the story here is that both are very significant not only to their own countries, but could also underpin the emerging market area.

Let’s take a look at these IPOs in the context of the broader emerging market topic… the effect this often volatile but flourishing pack of nations is having on the global economy - and how you can hitch a ride…

Emerging Markets Rebuilding Momentum

In the excellent movie “Wall Street,” Michael Douglas’s slimy Gordon Gekko character famously proclaims, “Greed is good. Greed works.”

Some equally unscrupulous Wall Street characters lived by this mantra. But they became so fat

...

This week Russia is hosting the first summit of BRIC nations in Yekatrinberg, which is the third summit in a row in under a week - all of which do not include any participation of North American or Western European countries.  It appears that Russia living up to its promises to built a "new global architecture" of multilateralism.  We think that this is a positive trend, and that the world can only benefit from the foundation of greater rule-based international institutions, especially among non-traditional powers.  We also think that it would be even better if Russia and its new rising star partners had a clearer idea of what they wanted to accomplish, but the fact that these meetings are happening is indisputably important and noteworthy....

Everything is happening just as we thought it would. Stocks are rising. And people think they see better times coming.

Whoa… this is eerie! Following the great crash of ’07-’09 cometh the rebound. Hesitant, cautious at first…

Then, people begin to believe it. They begin to see the “green shoots” of a revival. Stock prices rise. The green shoots sink deeper roots and flower. Pretty soon, people think they are in knee-high clover.

Confidence is rising. Consumers, house-holders, investors – all think the worst is over. And if the worst is over, better times must be coming. If better times are coming, prices should be rising. And investors should be making money. And businesses should be expanding.

It’s all happening as forecast. Except that businesses aren’t expanding. The underlying economy is not really getting better. It’s actually getting weaker. But we’ll talk about that another day.

Today… we issue a warning: watch out, the

...

Wherever we’re going, are we there yet? Nope! But we’re getting there. That is, America is sleepwalking its way into poverty. China is performing a kind of financial alchemy. And Australia finds itself subject to American-style problems, but benefitting from China’s Grand Economic Strategy.

But how about those powerful idealists on U.S. markets? Both the S&P 500 and the Dow were up nearly three percent. If you can believe it, they were led by financial stocks and retailers. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) finished up 9.9% after Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) put it on its “conviction buy” list. Home hardware retailer Lowes was up 8.1% after a survey of U.S. homebuilder confidence surged.

By the way, what the hell is a “conviction buy” list? Does that mean you can only recommend stocks in which the executives have been convicted of a crime? And if it means a share you can buy with

...

With Exxon Mobil Corp.’s (XOM) new oil discovery off the coast of Brazil - the latest in a series of such offshore finds and potentially the largest Western Hemisphere discovery in three - the South American nation has taken another giant step in its quest to become a global energy superpower.

Exxon’s Azulao-1 well tapped a reservoir that reportedly contains as much as 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, says Luiz Lemos, a partner at TozziniFreire Advogados, a Brazilian law firm that represents foreign energy companies.

“This is very huge,” Lemos told Bloomberg News.

So is the potential benefit for Brazil. If Lemos’ estimate is accurate, this new Azulao find will rival the nearby Tupi oil field as the largest discovery on this side of the planet since Mexico’s Cantarell field was discovered in 1976.

Lemos’ estimate is unconfirmed, but Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Officer Rex

...

China Development Bank, one of China’s largest state-owned enterprises, has agreed to lend $10 billion to Brazil’s Petrobras (PBR) in exchange for a long-term supply of oil - the latest illustration of how Beijing is using the global downturn to further its domestic agenda.

Money Morning first reported in January, that China was building stakes in some of the world’s largest natural-resource companies, which have been made vulnerable by depressed commodities prices, tumbling profits and falling stock prices. In the scant few weeks since that Money Morning report was published, Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. (ADR: ACH), or Chinalco, has invested $19.5 billion in Australian/British mining giant Rio Tinto PLC (ADR: RTP), and China Minmetals Corp. acquired Australian zinc miner Oz Minerals Ltd.

China Development Bank has

...