a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_28p7XDn4Qb0/SU0TcP1epkI/AAAAAAAABVg/TlCDCJj1DqQ/s1600-h/carls+bridge.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 278px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_28p7XDn4Qb0/SU0TcP1epkI/AAAAAAAABVg/TlCDCJj1DqQ/s400/carls+bridge.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281899313983563330" border="0" //abr /You have noticed that I have not been posting as usual. It happens because of my reallocation. Last Thursday it was my last day in Bulgaria. I have spent in Sofia more than one year and I have to say I enjoyed my stay very much. In last weeks I had been thinking about new locations and job a lot. And finally decided to come back to my home country, back to Prague. After 3 years of living abroad I really look forward to come back to Czech Republic. But before I start new job I am taking 2 months of vacation. I will publish some new posts during my holiday.br /br /Picture above shows Carl's Bridge in Prague.div class="blogger-post-footer"http://stockweb.blogspot.com/atom.xml/div pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/0CWBo_Yz176B2_YBKJm6OhIDVg8/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/0CWBo_Yz176B2_YBKJm6OhIDVg8/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a ...

The Czech central bank slashed its benchmark interest rate more than expected this morning as a growing credit crunch slows down borrowing and a decline in external demand hits exports and industrial output. Manufacturing output in the Czech Republic contracted for the seventh month in a row in October, and the purchasing managers index (PMI) hit an all-time low of 41.2, just above the revised euro zone figure of 41.1, giving us some idea of just how interconnected Czech and Eurozone activity are. Sharp Rate Reduction The Prague-based Ceska Narodni Banka reduced the two-week repurchase rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 2.75 percent, its lowest level since June 2007. The size of the cut is the largest since at least 2004. The koruna fell to 24.953 per euro immediately after the decision, and this was its lowest level since Oct. 27. It was trading ...

A fun little bit of news out of the beautiful city of Prague today…

The first Burger King (NYSE:BKC) will open in Prague in the next few months. And it’s not only targeting the Czech Repbulic. It wants to become number one in European markets. To do that, it’s already got operations in Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary, and it planning joints in Slovakia and Slovenia.

But it’s got tough competition from McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), who is top dog right now with 70 restaurants serving 53 million customers. It’s spent more than $172.2 million on restaurants in the Czech Republic.

When I was in Budapest, I grabbed a Whopper for a quick lunch before meeting my guide back at the hotel, Buro Panzio. It cost me 750 Forint, which is about $3.75 or so, and the place was packed. My last night in Budapest, I hit the town with some new friends, and ended up

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With the Russian invasion of Georgia, attention has been focused on Eastern Europe and any investment opportunities or bargains there. The Czech Republic is one of the larger countries in that part of the world. Here are some interesting facts about the country: 1. It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy. 2. They have a flat tax. 3. Their annual GDP growth has recently been approximately 6%. 4. It has the highest ranking compared to the former Comecon countries in the Human Development Index. 5. It ranks 35th out of all countries for GDP based on purchasing power parity. 6. Most of the country's economy has been privatized. 7. It has has abolished border controls with all of its neighbors. 8. The Programme for International Student Assessment ranks the Czech education as the 15th best out of all countries. 9. 4.6% of their electricity comes from renewable sources, including hydropower. 10. They ...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday he had signed a decree recognizing the Georgian rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. In the aftermath to the diplomatic chaos this decision is causing Russia's RTS Stock Index fell more than 6 percent to hit its lowest level since 2006 and the ruble dropped significantly.The RTS index of 48 companies posted the biggest decline among 89 global equity measures tracked by Bloomberg today, while Russia's currency slid to its lowest level in almost seven months against the dollar. Credit-default swaps on Russian debt climbed 7 basis points, according to CMA Datavision prices in London, as the U.K. Foreign Office ``categorically'' rejected President Dmitry Medvedev's move and Italy and France expressed regret. Medvedev's statement today accelerated a decline sparked by a drop of more than 2 percent in crude and slumping metals prices. The ...

Business New Europe Jason Corcoran in Moscow July 9, 2008A detsky sad, or kindergarten, is an unlikely neighbour for a Russian hedge fund, but James Fenkner is not fazed by a little background noise. The founder and chief investment officer of Red Star Asset Management runs a friendly and informal investment shop on an unassuming residential street situated between Moscow's boulevard and garden ring roads. Red Star's team of seven have their heads buried in work as two-dozen two-year-olds run about shrieking seven floors below. It's also a family affair - Fenkner's sister Elizabeth plays a key role as the head of marketing. The firm was set up in 2005 after Fenkner quit Troika Dialog where he had served seven years as head of research and initially as chief strategist. "The market was just ...

This is first time I post video on my blog. Clip shows CEO of Microsoft (MSFT) being egged during his speech in Hungary. Hungarian protester accused Microsoft from stealing taxpayer money.Steve Ballmer has this Thursday schedule to visit Czech Republic on Thursday. Let's see what we can expect in Prague. Except of speech for University students he is going to meet Ivo Lukacovic, Head of Seznam . cz (biggest Czech online portal). As I already posted couple of weeks ago there are ongoing rumours about acquisition (M&A - Internet companies).http://stockweb.blogspot.com/atom.xml

This article is quite different from my normal stories as it deals with a country rather than with a specific financial market or asset class. But please allow me the freedom to share this information with you as Slovenia is such a delightful country and also presents some unique investment opportunities for the international entrepreneur. Enjoy the read.