As the last country highlighted by Emerginvest in 2008, Costa Rica holds a place as one of the best markets to have invested in – both in terms of relative performance for the last year, as well as strong growth in the last month.

Nestled between Nicaragua and Panama, south of Mexico, Costa Rica lays claim to only 4.3 million people, and a national GDP of approximately $21 billion. The economy is mainly driven by three industries: a widespread agricultural sector which accounts for 8.7% of the GDP, a strong industrial sector (producing items such as electronic components, food processing, textiles, etc), which accounts for 28.9% of GDP, and an extremely deep tourism and services sector which accounts for 62.4% of GDP. Their stock exchange, the Bolsa Nacional de Valores, has been in operation for the last 29 years.

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As one of the most shocking and dismal economic years of our time comes to a close, it deserves a moment to take a look at the vast shifts which have transpired. Major banking giants which have fallen, stock markets have plummeted, and a whole host of issues have reared their head for the coming year. Yet, as we look ahead there are quite a few points of optimism. There are strong buying opportunities, and a sense of worldwide cooperation – both for investors, and for international leaders – which is arguably unique to this crisis, and will undoubtedly shape the next wave of future international financial decisions for the coming generation.

First, a quick, partial summary of international stock markets for the last year:

Developed:

US -42.32% UK -34.31% Germany -42.15% France -44.28% Italy -48.91% Belgium -54.96% Spain -40.69% Scandanavia -51.09% Netherlands -52.63% Russia -65.72%

Emerging:

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International Living’s Ronan McMahon says real estate investors have another opportunity to tap into the booming Costa Rican property market at a basement price. The far South of the country contains some of the best scenery, but it has always been almost impossible to reach. A new international airport and better roads will soon change that. And government limits on new development will send existing property prices will soar.

This from Today’s Financial News:

Wish you had a time machine? I just might be able to help you out with that!

Back in the early 1980s, International Living recommended buying real estate in northern Costa Rica. Readers who took this advice reaped big rewards.

This part of Costa Rica became the No. 1 destination among foreign retirees and investors who wanted to buy land that would increase dramatically in value. These buyers made very wise decisions, as the prices for beachfront property along the

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The brutal market sell-off in emerging markets has led many to doubt their importance in the global economy. But Horacio Marquez says the ‘right’ countries in Latin America will thrive in the New Year. Top of the class is Brazil, but Horacio also sees good opportunities in Chile and Mexico.

This from Money Morning:

The second phase of emerging markets expansion is well on its way – a period of self-sustaining growth, driven by consumer growth and infrastructure spending.  And Latin America, following China and other Asian economies, is one of the key global pillars of growth that will save the global economy and the U.S. financial system from total collapse. But not all the countries in Latin America will go on to prosper.  There is a wide gulf in the policies that will continue to separate the winners from the losers.

Let me explain.

In a recent article

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Austria is justifiably famous for its banking system—particularly for its bank secrecy law, which has the same legal status as the Austrian Constitution. But while Austrians take their financial privacy very seriously, there’s another aspect of Austria that doesn’t get as much attention: residence. With its world-class opera, museums, and galleries, Austria is truly one of the world’s most civilized countries. Vienna, its capital, is a cultural treasure. Indeed, Mercer’s, a major human resources consultancy ranks Vienna as the second most desirable city to live in the world (behind Zurich)—and Vienna is much more affordable. And within an hour’s drive of Vienna, you can visit three different countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. Austria is also a popular haven for English-speaking expatriates. While you won’t find the concentrations of U.S. expatriates that you would in places like Costa Rica, Panama, or London, you’ll find a high quality of life and reasonable ...

The base metals were mixed on Friday. Copper bottomed below $1.48 in the pre-dawn hours, but then pushed higher until the late morning, when it came off its highs to finish at $1.5752/lb., up 5½ cents. Nickel rose from the pre-dawn hours to mid-morning, trailed off, but then rallied late to close at $4.5503/lb., up 9¼ cents.

Zinc also rallied until mid-morning, but then eased for the rest of the day, ending at $0.5256/lb., down more than a third of a cent. Aluminum peaked in the pre-dawn hours but sank through the day, just coming off its intraday low at $0.7759/lb., down three-quarters of a cent, while lead followed aluminum closely, winding up with a loss of a third of a cent, at $0.5259/lb.

Copper rebounded from a fresh 3½-year low to post a day of solid gains amid a great deal of short covering.

Still, most analysts continue to

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After an ever so brief reprieve the bears returned and once again started mauling the bulls during Wednesday’s trading session on the Canadian markets. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange plunged 5.32%, while the TSX Gold Index tanked 8.5% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, lost 5.71% with the declining issuers outpacing the advancers by a 607 to 224 margin, on volume of 141 million shares traded. Going from the penthouse to the poorhouse, Teck Cominco (NYSE:TCK) is looking at several options to trim costs. A series of investments over the past two years has pushed the company from a cash-rich state to a cash poor one, with reports out that the diversified miner will cut its dividend, cut spending on development projects such as the Fort Hills oil sands, its Galore Creek copper project in British Columbia and its Petaquilla copper

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If you are looking to retire, relocate abroad, or move some assets offshore, Panama the place to go says Bob Bauman. The country uses the US dollar and its banks are well positioned to survive the global credit crisis. Better still, there is no Federal Reserve or central bank to interfere in the markets…

More from Bob in The Sovereign Society:

Concerned about the gloomy economic situation and the liberal drift in U.S. politics, a good many Americans are seriously considering the possibility of moving themselves and their finances offshore - while they still are able to do so.

The Sovereign Society (and yours truly) have long suggested that the Republic of Panama is the ideal place for retirement, a second home, or even to house your asset offshore protection trust or family foundation. It’s one country in this turbulent world that is proud to be known as a tax haven.

Healthy, ...

A few things today.There is a new frontier market CEF from Morgan Stanley that has ticker FFD. Here is a little bit of info, here is a little more but for now the MS page has no info to speak of.According to the Yahoo News release, linked above, frontier can include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ecuador, Estonia, Ghana, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macao, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.The money was just raised so the fund owns nothing yet. It may take a while to deploy ...

There are two types of headaches in the mining game, start-up headaches and production headaches. The first sets of headaches are painful as paperwork and approvals just never seem to end. The second sets of headaches are painful but perfectly pleasant as product rolls out and profits roll in.

Finding a company that has been through the first set and is ready to happily enjoy the second is one of the best ways to invest in an exploration and development mining company. An investor that can find a mining company that is past the exploration phase and in the production phase is an investor that will profit nicely, when commodity prices behave.

Petaquilla Minerals Ltd., an exploration and development mining company, works to find and extract gold resources primarily in Panama. The company has been working to delineate and define this particular find for some time and expects its first gold

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