Investors are breathing a sigh of relief that 2008 is over, but they shouldn’t get too comfortable. After all, with a worldwide recession under way, investors can expect acceleration in corporate bankruptcies in 2009.

But the question is - which ones?

In the financial services sector, 2008 was a year of spectacular failures:

Bear Stearns Cos. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. were absorbed by JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC), respectively. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (OTC: LEHMQ) filed for bankruptcy protection. And financial-sector giants American International Group Inc. (AIG) and Citigroup Inc. (C) were both bailed ...

strongFinancial News/strongbr /br /Jason Corcoran br /br /emLetter from Moscow - January 4, 2009/embr /br /Letters to Father Frost, the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus, have been stacking up well ahead of the Orthodox Christmas Day on January 7.br /br /This year, the postal service in Moscow’s Kuzminki district reported an unusually high level of correspondence from adults who wish for a new job or help with meeting credit payments.br /br /However, grown-ups looking for personal bailouts may be better served popping a letter in the mail to Vnesheconombank, the state development bank, which has come to prominence during the financial crisis as the Kremlin’s main piggy bank.br /br /VEB, which traces its genesis back to the October 1917 revolution, was originally responsible for managing Soviet-era debt. It was transformed two years ago into a development agency to spearhead efforts to diversify Russia’s economy but has only recently come to ...

Emerging markets investors have always had famed investor Jim Rogers on their side. Now – after the bubbles of China, India, Latin America and more have popped – they can take comfort in the word of investor Mark Mobius, who said emerging markets are “bottoming” en route to a bull phase in 2009.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Television, Mobius said there are “terrific bargains all over the place” and his biggest holdings are in Asia, adding that he is “aggressively” purchasing Chinese stocks.

Emerging market stocks have nosedived this year at a much faster pace than indices from larger, more affluent economies. So far this year, The MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a benchmark for equities in 24 developing nations, has fallen 53% – driven mainly by falling commodity prices and a freeze in credit globally.

Russia’s stocks were slugged the hardest; its equities

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Emerging markets investors have always had famed investor Jim Rogers on their side. Now – after the bubbles of China, India, Latin America and more have popped – they can take comfort in the word of investor Mark Mobius, who said emerging markets are “bottoming” en route to a bull phase in 2009. In a recent interview with Bloomberg Television, Mobius said there are “terrific bargains all over the place” and his biggest holdings are in Asia, adding that he is “aggressively” purchasing Chinese stocks. Emerging market stocks have nosedived this year at a much faster pace than indices from larger, more affluent economies. So far this year, The MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a benchmark for equities in 24 developing nations, has fallen 53% – driven mainly by falling commodity prices and a freeze in credit globally. Russia’s stocks were slugged ...

PKey Newsbr•nbsp;China cut interest rates for the fifth time in three months after trade growth collapsed because of recessions in the U.S., Europe and Japan.br•nbsp;The German economy is to contract by 2.7 percent in 2009, the Kiel-based Institute for World Economy, or IfW, said on Monday, slashing its previous forecast as Germany's exporters feel the effects of a global slowdown. (Reuters)br•nbsp;Russian oligarchs are lining up for $78 billion of Kremlin loans to survive the credit squeeze, handing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the opportunity to increase government control of the nation’s biggest companies. (Bloomberg)/P PKey Reports (WSJ):brNo economic events are scheduled for today./P PQuotable br“Doubling up has ruined a lot of people.nbsp; In order to double up, you must go against the flow.nbsp; You are saying, ‘I know that the market is going to turn and prove me right.’nbsp; No one knows when or how!”/P Pnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Edward Toppel /P PFX Trading – Can we rest? Gold ...

strongFinancial News /strongbr /br /By Jason Corcoranbr /br /24 November 2008 br /br /emLetter from Moscow/embr /Gambling in casinos has been a popular pastime in Moscow since the fall of communism but a more recent fad is desperate speculation on the currency markets. A slide in the value of the rouble and a deposit run at banks that is gathering momentum has loaded the dice in favour of a punt on the dollar.br /br /The on-off love affair with the greenback dates back to 1998 when a rouble devaluation wiped out people’s savings. Those lucky enough to have withdrawn their money in time transferred funds into dollars. br /br /Popular as Russia’s leaders are, its citizens have learnt not to take any chances by keeping faith with the rouble. Russians are rushing to protect their wealth in global currencies, having seen the stock market plunge by 70%, inflation hovering at ...

by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /blockquote“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”br /Tolstoy/blockquotebr /Well this strongis/strong an interesting little fable of modern family life, even if all the families involved may not be ones which many of my readers would normally wish to belong to.br /br /As is now reasonably well know Russian private oil company Lukoil is currently making a bid for the shares in Spanish energy company Repsol which are owned by the deeply indebted Spanish property company Sacyr Vallhermosa.br /br /Shares in what is Spain's fifth biggest builder, and which currently occupies the somewhat ignominious position of being Spain's worst-performing stock this year, jumped the most in two years last Thursday (20 November) on reports they were about to sell their 20 percent stake in Repsol YPF to the Russian oil company OAO Lukoil. Sacyr, which said last week it ...

strongThe Guardian - Comment is Free /strongbr /br /emA slide in the value of Russian currency has led many to cash out their modest savings and punt for either dollar or eurobr / /embr /br /strongBy Jason Corcoran/strongbr /br /guardian.co.uk, Wednesday November 19 2008 20.00br /br /The financial crisis is quickly transforming Russia into a nation of desperate currency speculators due to a slide in the rouble's value and a deposit run gathering pace at the banks. br /br /For many ordinary Russians, it's a game of roulette as they cash out their modest savings and punt for either dollar or euro.br /br /The cards are stacked in favour of a dollar bet as Russians have a love affair with the greenback dating back to last financial crisis in 1998, when a rouble devaluation wiped out their savings. br /br /Pensioners tuning into national TV last week may well ...

In our November 19 post, we said we are monitoring five key dimensions on ten key asset categories to gauge when, how and how much to commit the cash we raised in the summer to the markets in the future.

1. Technical Market Factors 2. Valuation Fundamentals 3. Risk Levels 4. Government Intervention Policies 5. Economic Conditions

Ten Key Asset Categories Relative Performance Since Oct 1:

click image to enlarge

Headlines Re - Government Policies and Economic Conditions:

The headlines in the financial press over the last 24 hours, clearly show that our 4th and 5th monitoring dimensions are not near to being settled enough to risk cash. Consider this headlines sample:

Nov 19 (Financial Times) — Junk bond yields spike — Average yields on US junk bonds have topped 20 per cent for the first time amid rising concerns about a protracted

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TODAY: Putin to stage early elections? Moscow newspaper editor in critical condition after being beaten; EU-Russia talks resume today amid Kremlin’s tensions with Ukraine and worries over NATO expansion; Gates critical of missile plans; Putin’s colourful language. A former Duma deputy slams the Kremlin’s ‘feckless budgetary policy’ and ponders the likelihood of Vladimir Putin staging early elections to lessen the possibility of social unrest stemming from the financial crisis. The Moscow Times has fixated on Dmitry Medvedev’s evasion of a question during his Le Figaro interview on whether or not he will step down early from the presidency. A criminal investigation has been launched after Mikhail Beketov, the editor of a small, Moscow-based opposition newspaper who has fought to protect Russian forestland, was beaten up outside his home. Beketov is in ...