China has stopped stockpiling metals, according to reports in the Chinese media. Will this put the cap on the recent strength in base metals prices? The AFP reports that, “China has been building its inventories of metals, including 235,000 tonnes of copper, over recent months, Caijing magazine reported on its website over the weekend, citing Yu Dongming, an official with the state economic planner.”

The oil resources off Brazil are in the same scope as those of Saudi Arabia. The oil potential is huge. Beyond huge. It’s a game changer for the world of energy. No, the Brazilian resource doesn’t mean that Peak Oil is history. But it does mean that history is about to change. Indeed, the angel of history is favoring the nation of Brazil.

Keep an eye on the Chinese and Brazilian stock markets on Monday.

Some of China’s stockpiling may well have been due to speculative excess, rather than any rational plan on the ground. That realization played a role in the market carnage seen this week.

China is hungry…and gets hungrier every day. Satisfying hunger requires fertilizer…lots of it. Think: Potash.  China is not only getting hungrier, it is also developing a taste for the good life. Protein consumption always increases as a population’s wealth increases.

China’s stock market is back to where it was one year ago. But what exactly does that mean for your portfolio?The World Bank just upped China’s economic growth projection from 6.5 percent to 7.2 percent. If China’s economic rebound is real, it would open up all kinds of investment opportunities.

The fate of the global equity market rally now comes down to China. Will it continue to stockpile hard assets? Will the data points continue to soothe and impress? Much is at stake either way…  

Last August, in an exclusive article to Oxford Club members, I badmouthed decoupling – the theory that the rest of the world (particularly emerging economies) could somehow party on while the U.S economy endured a recession.

For quite some time I was interested in recommending that my readers invest in Russia. I still had concerns about some political issues and organized crime in the country.  Most experts out there tell people to stay away from Russia, so I knew I had to do further research myself.

Maybe the fact that central banks, banks and governments around the world are acting like monetary idiots explains why gold is shooting up in price; or maybe that it is going up in price explains why there is such a new interest in gold; or maybe it just explains why people are as disrespectful of the dollar, as am I.