Investopedia: What's Happening To The Best Trades Of Our Lives?

Nobody is sounding the bells yet for the emerging markets, but a curious thing has happened on the road to "BRIC will make you rich!" So far this year, many of the most attractive emerging markets are not actually doing well at all. Ups and downs are par for the course with all investing, and especially so in emerging market investing, but it is interesting to step back and see how many of the most attractive long-term stories are working out today. 

Brazil - Rates Shimmying Upward
Just in time for Carnival, Brazil's central bank decided to hike rates by another 50 basis points, moving the benchmark rate to 11.75%. Just as it is often said that investors should not "fight the Fed," investors in Brazilian equities have had to swallow hard as Brazil's government tries to find the right path between inflation and growth.

Even though commodity prices, a major component of Brazil's economy, have been strong both under ground (copper, iron, and gold) and above ground (soybeans and other agricultural products), that has not helped the market so much. The iShares Brazil Index ETF (NYSE:EWZ) has lost almost 4% year-to-date as of this writing, and many riskier ETFs have had it worse. The Market Vectors Brazil Small-Cap ETF (NYSE:BRF) has dropped 8.6%, while the thinly-traded Global X Brazil Consumer (Nasdaq:BRAQ) and Global X Brazil Financial (Nasdaq:BRAF) have fallen 12% and 9% respectively. For those who think investing in Brazil is not quite risky enough, the ProShares Ultra Brazil (NYSE:UBR) are down 8.6%. Oddly enough, while rates keep climbing, the EGShares Brazil Infrastructure Fund (Nasdaq:BRXX) has only seen declines of about 1%.


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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Whats-Happening-To-The-Best-Trades-Of-Our-Lives-BRF-EWZ-FXI-EPI-IDX-TUR-VNM0304.aspx

AgBank Of China IPO Not As Easy As ABC

Reading about all of the angst and concern about the IPO of the Agricultural Bank of China, I am reminded that waiting for the hammer to fall can be worse than the blow itself. A lot of market-watchers have made this event into an be-all/end-all referendum on the state of China's market. The truth, though, is that the long-term impacts are all but certain to be far less earth-shaking. 

A Big Deal, But ...There is no doubt that the IPO of AgBank is a major event. This is the last major bank in China to go public, it is a very significant lender in the country (particularly in rural areas), and the performance of the stock is going to tell us all something about the appetite for Chinese shares. It is also true that you do not see a $23 billion IPO very often. (For more, see IPO Basics Tutorial.)

For the full piece, please continue to:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/AgBank-Of-China-IPO-Not-As-Easy-As-ABC-CHL-BIDU-PTR-YGE-GS-MS-ADM-FXI-EWH-XPP-FXP0630.aspx

This piece originally had China Mobile named as China Telecom. We'll be getting that fixed soon...