If you think the “lost decade” of stock returns seen in the United States since 2000 is bad, you probably haven’t been paying attention to Japan.   Japan’s stock market officially peaked on December 29, 1989, and has yet to recover more than 20 years later. But many… Read More

Oil, technology, minerals and banking. Those are the industries that are host to the world’s most richly-valued companies. In fact, with a market cap of more than $250 billion, these companies are larger than the gross domestic product (GDP) of countries such Portugal, Egypt or Chile. Read More

Signs have emerged in the past two weeks that China is paving the way for its currency to start appreciating. It may take a year or two to see even a 10% or 20% rise, and practically nobody else is writing about this at all (which surprises me), but this will mean big ramifications for investors. Under steady pressure from the United States, Chinese policy planners have generally shrugged at the prospect of letting its currency appreciate. In recent months, other trading partners in Asia, along with emerging powerhouses such as Brazil have also chafed… Read More

Signs have emerged in the past two weeks that China is paving the way for its currency to start appreciating. It may take a year or two to see even a 10% or 20% rise, and practically nobody else is writing about this at all (which surprises me), but this will mean big ramifications for investors. Under steady pressure from the United States, Chinese policy planners have generally shrugged at the prospect of letting its currency appreciate. In recent months, other trading partners in Asia, along with emerging powerhouses such as Brazil have also chafed at a currency policy that has been seen to help China and hurt the rest of the world. Although the rising pressure has certainly been noted in Beijing, Chinese planners have long sought to let their currency appreciate when they’re good and ready. That time finally seems to be at hand. Laying the groundwork China’s currency has actually begun to modestly appreciate in recent months. Six months ago, 10 yuan were worth about $1.46. That figure has steadily risen to a recent $1.52, though many economists think that if… Read More

Emerging market investing focuses largely on Brazil, Russia, India and China, or namely the BRIC countries. As it turns out, an entire continent also has quite a bit of growth appeal. And the fact that it is still in the early growth stages means that smart investors still have time… Read More

A growing chorus of investors has started to talk of a China bubble. These folks think the Chinese government will be unable to glide the economy onto a slower plane of growth without unexpected stumbles. And they expect Chinese stocks to move sharply lower if this rising giant loses… Read More

China denied it for years. And it wasn’t until April of last year that the communist nation finally came clean. Finally, in the spring of 2010 — only after satellite images had been released of construction taking place — China officially told its Indian neighbor that it… Read More

This New Year, income investors like me will likely be finding some of the richest dividend yields overseas. As a general rule of thumb, foreign stocks often have higher dividend payouts than their U.S. counterparts, and pay a much larger dividend as well. While lately there’s… Read More

Although you have probably never heard of this company, chances are you use its technology every single day. Do you watch television, or use a computer? Have you bought an iPad or iPhone? Do you use a cell phone, digital camera or a GPS navigation system in… Read More

As we enter 2011, investing abroad has become awfully tricky. Emerging market economies have been the shining stars of the past few years, and many of their stock markets have been on a tear. As I noted a few weeks ago,  some of them have seen their markets double in… Read More

I was running through my colleague Brad Briggs’ recent look back at the silver crisis of the 1970s. He described a cautionary tale about investors chasing the commodity when its price was no longer connected to any sort of fundamental value. Needless to say, the silver bubble was eventually pricked: “With prices so high, people began selling all the silver they could get their hands on. Prices plummeted 50.0% in four days,” Briggs wrote. There is another metal that’s showing all the signs of a mania: copper. I don’t expect a sudden plunge as was… Read More

I was running through my colleague Brad Briggs’ recent look back at the silver crisis of the 1970s. He described a cautionary tale about investors chasing the commodity when its price was no longer connected to any sort of fundamental value. Needless to say, the silver bubble was eventually pricked: “With prices so high, people began selling all the silver they could get their hands on. Prices plummeted 50.0% in four days,” Briggs wrote. There is another metal that’s showing all the signs of a mania: copper. I don’t expect a sudden plunge as was the case with silver 30 years ago, but the price of this metal and of its key stocks are floating on a bed of complacency. This could all end soon thanks to a couple of occurrences that are happening offstage, but that may actually be advantageous in the short term. Copper prices have been steadily rebounding for the last two years as global demand perks up. The metal has many uses in construction, from plumbing to wiring to refrigeration coils. China, with its inexorable thirst for new building construction, has been a key driver for copper. This… Read More