Lord William Rees-Mogg (Fleet Street Invest UK):
In the last six months there has been a rebound of 50% in the great majority of world stock markets.

There has also been a comparable rebound in the price of oil, with West Texas oil rising very close to $80 a barrel. In the oil market there has been heavy two-way trading in options. There could be a sharp spike in the oil price if speculators have to cover their positions.

At the same time the US dollar has remained weak, and now stands at $1.4886 to the euro and $1.66628 to the pound. This is close to a 14-month low on a trade-weighted basis. The poor performance of the dollar reflects the low US interest rates and the twin US fiscal and trade deficits.

The demise of the dollar

The dollar nevertheless remains the world’s leading reserve currency, with the euro in second place. Investors are naturally anxious to protect themselves against markets, including currency markets, which have shown such a high degree of volatility.

The Chinese, who have the greatest number of dollars in their currency reserves, have already suffered substantial losses.

In what amounts to a crisis of the dollar, the euro is in second place as a reserve currency, but there are potential threats to the future of the euro, due to the weak productivity of the Mediterranean economies. There is a big stretch in productivity growth between the German and the Southern European regions.

The fall in the dollar against other currencies includes a devaluation of the dollar in terms of gold, which now seems to have stabilized at a dollar price of $1,050 an ounce.

The circumstances do indeed appear to be uniquely favourable to gold.

Interest rates and therefore carrying costs are exceptionally low. The dollar is exceptionally weak. The technical market position is strong, including good demand for gold in terms of jewellery. The oil price – which is often linked to gold – is rising. Those who believe that oil is due for a further rise to $100 a barrel are likely also to be confident about holding a proportion of their investment . . .
Click here to read the rest of Lord Rees-Mogg’s article at Fleet Street Invest UK.

When a large holder of U.S. dollars declares that the dollar is in “great shape,” should we believe him? My answer is, “Probably not.”

Russia’s Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told journalists this week that the U.S. dollar is in “good shape.” He added that, “It’s too early to speak of an alternative [to the U.S. dollar].” These remarks came after Chinese and Russian officials have quite publicly suggested that the world’s financial system would benefit from using a currency that wasn’t being run by a bunch of inflationistas in America.

But the dilemma for the large dollar-holders of the world – Japan, Russia, and China to name a few – is how candidly they should verbalize in public about what everyone knows in private. By blowing the whistle on the Fed’s inflationary monetary policy, dollar-holders penalize themselves. The lesson? There’s a price to pay for rightly pointing out that a huge supply of Treasury bonds threatens the credit rating of the U.S. That price is paid by owners of dollar-denominated assets.

The dollar-supportive remarks by Kudrin, then, should be seen for what they are: a white lie, designed to halt the dollar’s slide…at least temporarily. In the meantime, however, you can bet that these same dollar-holders are working behind the scenes to find alternatives to the greenback and, of course, to diversify their currency reserves into other currencies or tangible assets. It’s just that you don’t want to precipitate a crisis until you’re good and ready to profit from it with a well-planned trade. Goldman Sachs would never make that kind of mistake!

There may be a few escape avenues from the dollar. It comes down to figuring out what-if anything-will go up when the U.S. dollar resumes going down. In fact, the question on everyone’s minds is what U.S. creditors will do with their money if they aren’t lending it to Barack Obama to spend.

“Over time,” says Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at the Stern School of Business at NYU, “the willingness of the U.S. creditors to finance U.S. spending and buy dollar reserves is going to be reduced. People are getting nervous rightly about us devaluing or inflating our way out of the debt problem and causing real losses on the holdings of those assets.”

If you’re losing money on an asset, naturally you’re going to either sell of it, or at the very least, accumulate less of it. But then what? Where does your money go after that? We’d suggest the investment needs of the emerging market nations are the natural replacement for throwing away money in the U.S. Treasury market. Granted, there’s risk in emerging markets. But it’s now clear there’s risk in the sovereign bond market too. Take your pick.

Speaking of those emerging markets, four of them spoke with one voice in Russia this week. The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, and China gathered to figure out how to solve their dollar dilemma. Criticize it too much, you lose value on your current dollar-denominated holdings. Do nothing, you lose value on your dollar-denominated holdings as Obama and his Congress spend America into poverty and servitude…and then inflate like mad men.

“There is a strong need for a stable, predictable and more diversified international monetary system,” the final statement from the BRIC nations read. Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev added his own “two roubles,” saying that existing reserve currencies, “have not managed to perform their functions.”

And what is the function of a reserve currency? Well, it’s probably the same as the tripartite function of any money: as a store of value, a unit of account, and a medium of exchange. Countries hold baskets of currencies (yen, Euros, Swiss Francs, U.S. dollars) in order to conduct international trade and commerce.

Of course all this is relatively new. That is, when money used to be a commodity (gold and/or silver) then a country’s monetary reserves were the same as its precious metal reserves. Debtor nations that consumed more than they produced and borrowed to do so paid the price in a net outflow of commodity money. But things don’t work that way in a world where everyone uses fiat money. So what we’re seeing now is a worldwide monetary system that is, well, systemically flawed.

Make of it what you will. What we make of it is that the very foundation of the world’s commerce and the currency in which it’s conducted is shifting. The stock markets of the world have no idea what to make of all this because it is not clear yet who the winners and losers will be.

All that we know is that paper currencies and government debts are proliferating very rapidly. We also know that natural resources are not. In fact, they are depleting very steadily.

So we conclude that the prices of most natural resources will go up…a lot. That’s why lots of bears on the U.S. dollar suggest buying gold. We are sympathetic to this idea, but we’d suggest a slightly different strategy: Sell bonds. Buy energy.

Source: Sell Bonds, Buy Energy

Editors Note: Pulbished by the Rude Awakening, this article origianlly appeared in the Australian Daily Reckoning

Unfortunately, there’s one sobering conclusion many investors have so far failed to reach: With grossly over-stimulative monetary and fiscal policies at play, most countries will find it very difficult to recover.

Fortunately, a few well-run countries avoided the fallout from the U.S. housing debacle – as well as the fiscal-and-monetary-stimulus mess that followed. And although they have been badly stung by the slump in world trade, these countries are poised to recover with a satisfying bounce.

One such country is Taiwan, and global markets may be just starting to realize this.

A Backgrounder on a Potential Winner

Because its banks were not active in the United States, Taiwan didn’t suffer directly from the collapse in the U.S. housing market. Taiwan also has not suffered from the typical money-tightening consequence of the financial crisis in the world’s emerging markets; it has no need of foreign bank credit, since it consistently runs a payments surplus and has $300 billion in currency reserves.

However, like all the East Asian countries involved in the supply chain to U.S. consumers, Taiwan did suffer a huge decline in exports in the first three months of 2009; its exports dropped more than 35% in the first quarter – less severe than Japan’s drop, but more than those in Korea and China.

I wrote on this some weeks ago, guessing that the export problem was not fundamental, but simply due to United States de-stocking and the difficulties of obtaining trade finance.

The first-quarter U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) figures published April 29 show that this supposition was correct. U.S. inventories dropped a huge $109 billion; the drop in inventories was by itself responsible for 46% of the 6.1% annual rate of decline in U.S. GDP.

Taiwan’s trade figures for March were already improving somewhat, suggesting that this problem might be alleviating. Recent statements by the major Taiwanese semiconductor companies – firms that are intimately involved in the East Asia/U.S. supply chain – confirm that this transformation is, indeed, taking place. Thus, the Taiwanese economy is likely to at least experience a short-term bounce.

Taiwan’s prospects for sustained recovery are better than many Western countries, because its leadership didn’t panic and jump into the fiscal and monetary policies that are almost certain to cause long-term damage in the countries where leaders opted for such strategies.

In fact, the panel of forecasters from The Economist predicted that Taiwan’s fiscal deficit to be only 5% of GDP for the current fiscal year – less than half the deficit projected for the United States and Great Britain, for example. Its short-term interest rates are below 1%, but it currently has no inflation. And the Taiwanese dollar has declined by 10% against the U.S. dollar since September, making Taiwanese exports more competitive.

The Economist panel expects the Taiwanese economy to shrink by 6.5% in 2009, but that is certainly far too conservative, given the signs of export recovery.

Profiting from the “Other” China

Investors have always worried about Taiwan’s relations with The People’s Republic of China, which claims it as part of the mainland country. However, since the election of the Kuomintang president Ma Ying-jeou last year, relations between Taiwan and Mainland China have improved markedly.

Investors who are aware of Taiwan’s potential have long labeled it as “The Other China.”

On Thursday, China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE ADR: CHL) – China’s largest cellular telephone company – announced plans to invest in Taiwan’s Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. Ltd., a first for Chinese investment in Taiwan (Taiwan has huge investments in China), suggesting that trade relations are no longer cool – but are, in fact, warm.

Three possible avenues into Taiwan seem attractive:

• The Taiwanese exchange-traded fund (ETF).
• And the two largest producers of semiconductors, an industry central to Taiwan’s growth that should benefit from the recent weakness in the Taiwan dollar. In this context, it is notable that the SEMI book-to-bill ratio for the U.S. semiconductor increased sharply in March to 0.61, with the three-month average of orders up 9%. That’s still not a strong number, but it’s moving in the right direction, and matches recent optimism from Taiwan’s manufacturers.

Let’s look at these three Taiwan profit plays:

The iShares MSCI Taiwan Index ETF (NYSE: EWT) is clearly an efficient way to invest in Taiwan; it has risen recently, but is currently trading at a reasonable 13 times earnings.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE ADR: TSM) is Taiwan’s largest semiconductor manufacturer. It just reported a tiny first quarter profit on a 54% decrease in sales, but said that its order book was very strong and noted that it expected a sharp rebound in sales and earnings in the second half of 2009.

United Microelectronics Corp. (NYSE ADR: UMC) reported a loss for the first quarter, but just invested $285 million to acquire Chinese semiconductor manufacturer HeJian Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., giving it a substantial foothold in that rapidly growing market. UMC expects a profit in the second quarter and rapid recovery thereafter; it has a strong balance sheet and its free cash flow was positive even in the loss-making first quarter.

Source: Three Ways to Profit As Taiwan Rebounds From the Financial Crisis

When China announced a new array of stimulus measures earlier this month, this very important plan was overshadowed by China Premier Wen Jiabao’s concerns about the United States’ quickly growing debt load.

“We have lent a huge amount of money to the United States,” Premier Wen said. “Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little bit worried. I request the U.S. to maintain its good credit, to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China’s assets.”

China has cause to be concerned: As of December, the most recent figures available, China held $727.4 billion in Treasuries – about 26% more than the $578 billion in U.S. government securities the Asian giant held at the end of 2007. More than half of China’s nearly $2 trillion in foreign currency reserves are tied up in U.S. Treasuries and notes issued by other affiliated agencies of the U.S. government – including beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE).

However, the value of U.S. Treasuries has dropped steadily since the government began selling record amounts of debt to finance its economic stimulus packages. Investors have lost an average of 2.7% in 2009, according to Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.’s U.S. Treasury Master Index.

China’s leaders “are worried about forever-rising deficits, which may devalue Treasuries by pushing interest rates higher,” JP Morgan & Co. (JPM) analyst Frank Gong told The Associated Press. “Inside China there has been a lot of debate about whether they should continue to buy Treasuries.”

And as the U.S. debt soars as the government works to halt the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, China’s concerns about this country’s growing deficits – and its creditworthiness – are escalating in kind.

Depending upon how it did so, were China to stop buying U.S. debt – or even worse, to start dumping it – the economic fallout could be widespread, and perhaps even catastrophic:

• The U.S. dollar would drop 15%-20%.
• U.S. stocks would get hammered.
• Inflation would spike and interest rates on Treasuries would jump into the 8% range.
• And the economy would end up flat on its back – where it would stay, with no rebound on the horizon.

Detailing the Deficit

During the first five months of the 2009 fiscal year, which began Oct.1, the U.S. budget deficit hit a record $764.5 billion. Last month, President Obama outlined a $3.94 trillion budget plan that would take the deficit to $1.75 trillion by the time the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. The plan then calls for a $1.17 trillion deficit for fiscal 2010.

As currently projected, the U.S. budget deficit is forecast to run at about 12% of gross domestic product (GDP) – even worse than the perennially anemic Japan, where the deficit is running at 11%. And the debt picture is certain to get worse.

The Treasury Department has the government’s printing presses running overtime just to finance the $787 billion stimulus passed by Congress earlier this year. And in order to pay for all the stimulus, bailout and fix-it plans that are being put in place to arrest the U.S. economic decline, the U.S. government is assuming a murderous amount of debt: Over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the White House budget will run $9.3 trillion in deficits.

That’s $2.3 trillion more than the Obama administration had forecast. But even the CBO projection could prove way too low: It assumes that the U.S. economy – after declining 1.5% this year – will turn around an advance at a racy 4.1% clip in both 2010 and 2011, a forecast that seems far too rosy, given the depths that the U.S. economy appears to have reached.

And that brings us to China.

Enter the (Red) Dragon

During the past several years, government-operated “sovereign-wealth funds” (SWFs) from virtually every major economic powerhouse around the world had been on a global shopping spree, buying up assets and bidding up prices as they did so.

China was no exception.

So when worldwide financial-asset prices began to slide – and then to nosedive – China abandoned many of its riskier holdings, choosing to boost its stockpile of U.S. Treasury securities. That underscores one marketplace truism: Despite Premier Wen’s reservations, the market for U.S. debt is the only market large enough, liquid enough, and stable enough to accommodate China’s large-scale investments.

That’s forced China to engage in a kind of global investor activism – although, so far, most of that activism has been aimed at one country: The United States.

About one-fifth of China’s currency reserves were tied up in Fannie and Freddie debt last fall when the two mortgage firms were placed under government conservatorship, The Washington Post reported.

In fact, as Money Morning detailed back in September as part of its ongoing investigation of the bailout of the U.S. banking system, that U.S. government decision to take control of Fannie and Freddie was driven not by worries about the fading U.S. housing market, but by concerns that foreign central banks in China, Japan, Europe, the Middle East and Russia might stop buying our bonds.

China clearly made its risk concerns known at that time, adding to the sense of urgency U.S. officials felt to make a move. Today, as U.S. debt continues to mount at an obscene rate, financial and economic risks also escalate. This could lead to a spike in inflation and interest rates – a double-whammy that could cause any recovery that’s under way to sputter and stall. That duo of higher inflation and interest rates could also hammer bond values, including the Treasuries held in such large quantities by China. So it’s no wonder the risk concerns China articulated back at the time of the Fannie and Freddie takeovers go double or triple now.

Indeed, when Premier Wen unveiled the spending measures earlier this month, he made the point of saying that China should seek to “fend off risks” by further diversifying its reserves.

“We have already adopted a guiding management policy of diversifying our foreign exchange reserves, and at present our foreign exchange reserves are safe overall,” Wen said. “Our first principle in managing foreign currency is averting risk. We have always adhered to the principles of foreign currency security, liquidity and maintaining value, and implemented a strategy of diversification.”

When it comes to U.S. government debt, that strategy will take one of three forms, and will have the following potential effects:

1. Quietly threatening to stop purchasing (or even threatening to “dump”) U.S. Treasuries, a form of “back-channel” communications that can generate results (just look at how China forced the U.S. government to place Fannie and Freddie in conservatorship). Because this is back channel, it stays out of the marketplace, so long as the U.S. government finds some ways to appease Chinese investors by somehow reducing risk.

2. Quietly slowing or stopping its purchases of U.S. government debt. If China does this effectively and systematically, the fact that it’s cutting back on purchases doesn’t surface until the plan is executed. If China is able to pull this off – and it faces long odds to do so – the fact that it’s cutting back on U.S. debt doesn’t roil the markets too badly, especially if it doesn’t leak out until after the fact.

3. Publicly dumping U.S. debt. Self-explanatory in nature – and also the most unlikely, if it wants to maintain its “friendly” status with the United States – this is the worst-case scenario, and is the one that ends up with the dollar and the stock market getting stomped. If China chooses this route, it’s also essentially cutting off its nose to spite its face. The reason: By publicly dumping U.S. debt, the Treasury market will also take a beating – meaning China’s remaining U.S. debt holdings would take a haircut of 20% to 30%.

The Marketplace Realities

International demand for long-term U.S. financial assets actually fell in January, reflecting China’s smallest net purchase since May, Bloomberg reported.

International investors sold a net $8.4 billion in U.S. corporate debt in January, the report showed. Net foreign purchases of Treasury notes and bonds were a net $10.7 billion in for the month, after purchases of $15 billion a month earlier.

Few analysts believe China will abandon its Treasury holdings altogether, as that would hammer the dollar, hurt the value of its debt holdings and ruin its political relationship with the United States.

Besides, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Beijing wants a voice in Washington.

Yu Yongding, a former advisor to the Bank of China said last month that China should seek guarantees from the U.S. government that its holdings won’t be diminished by “reckless policies.”

Premier Wen echoed that request last week when he called on the United States to “honor its promises and guarantee the safety of China’s assets.”

“I think what they’re trying to say right now is, ‘Don’t take any steps that would impair our ability to access your market,’” Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, told The Post. “The Chinese are starting to flex their muscles, they are becoming more powerful commercially and economically, and they want us to know it.”

The very possibility that China and other foreign countries would stop buying U.S. bonds already was enough to prompt the U.S. government to take control of foundering mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Source: The Three Ways China May Deal With Growing U.S. Debt

Wen’s new stimulus outline will raise the old-age pension for retired workers, boost the salaries of 12 million teachers, increase farmers’ income and provide more subsidies for them.

China will also cut taxes by $88 billion (600 billion yuan) and spend $124 billion (850 billion yuan) to reform reform the country’s hhe health care sector within three years.

These investments are considered separate from the $585 billion (4 trillion yuan) stimulus announced in November, but Wen made it clear that Beijing stands ready to expand its package as needed.

“We already have our plans ready to tackle even more difficult times, and to do that we have reserved adequate ammunition,” Wen said, referring to his nation’s nearly $2 trillion in foreign currency reserves. “That means that, at any time, we can introduce new stimulus policies.”

Investors’ confidence in China has started to wane recent months as unemployment has risen sharply and the nation’s once-vibrant manufacturing export sectors have shown signs of weakness.

After falling 17.5% in January, exports plunged 25.7% last month to $64.9 billion.  Imports fell 24.1% in February to $60 billion. Slightly more than 15% of China’s 130 million migrant workers – about 20 million people – have lost their jobs since the start of the global financial crisis.

However, Chinese officials continue to point to increases in fixed -asset investment and bank lending as evidence that the current stimulus plan is working. Fixed-asset investment in China climbed an estimated 26.5% year-over-year in the first two months of 2009, the National Bureau of Statistics said last week.

New domestic currency lending has increased as well, surging to 1.6 trillion yuan in January.

“I really believe we will be able to walk out of the shadow of the financial crisis at an early date,” Premier Wen said. “After this trial, I believe the Chinese economy will show greater vitality.”

With respect to the rising tide of unemployment, which could spur social unrest, Wen promised to focus on job creation, and to extend more aid to small businesses.

“We will pay all attention possible to this issue and we will never overlook this issue,” he said.

While many analysts have reduced their growth forecasts for the Chinese economy – some to as low as 6% – Wen continues to assert that China’s economy is on track for 8% growth this year.

“I believe that there is indeed some difficulty in reaching this goal,” Wen said. “But with effort it is possible.”

Premier Wen ‘Worried’ About U.S. Treasuries

While Premier Wen remains optimistic about the state of the Chinese economy, he is decidedly less confident in the outlook of the United States. Particularly, Wen voiced his concern about the value of China’s large holdings of U.S. Treasuries.

“We have lent a huge amount of money to the United States,” he said. “Of course, we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little bit worried. I request the U.S. to maintain its good credit, to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China’s assets.”

Of China’s $2 trillion in foreign currency holdings, about $1 trillion is invested in U.S. Treasuries and notes issued by other government affiliated agencies, such as Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE).

Last summer, China’s big state-owned banks began dramatically reducing their holdings in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt. China had held about one-fifth of its currency reserves in Fannie and Freddie debt last fall, The Washington Post reported.

At the end of last year, China held about $696 billion in U.S. government securities – 46% more than at the end of 2007.

“They are worried about forever-rising deficits, which may devalue Treasuries by pushing interest rates higher,” JP Morgan & Co. (JPM) analyst Frank Gong told The Associated Press. “Inside China, there has been a lot of debate about whether they should continue to buy Treasuries.”

Earlier this year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the U.S. budget deficit would nearly triple from last year’s $455 billion – and would reach a staggering $1.2 trillion. And that was even before President Obama unveiled his $787 billion stimulus, bank-rescue and anti-foreclosure plans – or other fix-up initiatives that are sure to surface in the months ahead.

The value of U.S. Treasuries has dropped steadily since the Obama administration began selling record amounts of debt to finance its economic stimulus packages. Investors lost an average of 2.9% in 2009, according to Merrill Lynch’s U.S. Treasury Master Index.

China should seek to ”fend off risks” by further diversifying its reserves, Wen said.

“We have already adopted a guiding management policy of diversifying our foreign exchange reserves, and at present our foreign exchange reserves are safe overall,” Wen said. “Our first principle in managing foreign currency is averting risk. We have always adhered to the principles of foreign currency security, liquidity and maintaining value, and implemented a strategy of diversification.”

As Money Morning detailed in as investigative report last September, the very possibility that China and other foreign countries would stop buying U.S. bonds already was enough to prompt the U.S. government to take control of foundering mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

If China, which is the United States’ largest creditor, were to continue to shy away from U.S. debt, it might find itself with even more influence over U.S. government policy. And if China were to stop buying Treasuries altogether, the results would be catastrophic. It’s conceivable that the United States wouldn’t be able to continue with its current rescue strategies, and that could ultimately lead to the collapse of the U.S. dollar.

The U.S. Treasury Department responded to Wen’s concerns Friday.

“The U.S. Treasury market remains the deepest and most liquid market in the world,” said Treasury spokeswoman Heather Wong. “President Obama is committed to taking the steps necessary to restore growth and put this country on the path of fiscal sustainability, including cutting the long-term deficit in half over the next four years.”

Source: Chinese Premier Announces New Spending Plan, Voices Concern Over U.S. Treasuries

Back in 2001, the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) – eager to push its clients toward emerging markets investment – created the acronym “BRIC” to stand for Brazil, Russia, India and China, the four emerging markets the investment bank’s strategists believed would become a dominant part of the world economy in the years ahead.

Such was the case until the global financial crisis happened. Now, Russia is falling out of investor sunlight and into the pits of recession.

Russia’s Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina projects a 2.2% gross domestic product (GDP) decline for 2009, according to EurasiaNet. But the current global financial crisis is making previous estimates look foolish and impossibly rosy (U.S. GDP was originally estimated to fall 3.2% for the fourth quarter. In reality, GDP plunged 6.2%).

The culprits: A falling ruble, plummeting oil prices, war with Georgia and a gas-export dispute with the Ukraine.

Russia’s economy is heavily reliant on its oil reserves, making the effects of falling oil prices easy to measure. But the silent killer of the Russian economy has yet to be full measured – the money spent in a thus-far vain attempt to prop up its falling ruble.

The ruble recently fell to a level not seen since 1998, a scary statistic because that was the year Russia experienced a nationwide banking crisis – and it was also a period during which world markets were being roiled by the Asian Financial Crisis, also known as the “Asian contagion.”

In an effort to cushion the ruble’s fall, Russia has spent $245 billion since August, as policymakers sold more than a quarter of the country’s gold and foreign-currency reserves. Russia’s reserves, the world’s third-largest, stood at $426.5 billion on Jan. 9, according to BNP Paribas SA.

That has some economists calling for a “free-float” – or a big devaluation – to avoid depleting all of the reserves.

The tactic, and the accompanying effect on investors, is nearly identical to that of 1998, when the ruble fell 71% against the dollar before finally stabilizing after the government defaulted on $40 billion of debt. Investors are fleeing Russia because the government is tapping its reserves to defend the ruble, further eroding investor confidence and undermining the currency.

Brazil, India and China are currently faring far better than Russia currently, but are still dealing with their own unique struggles. That has led analysts to question the viability of the BRIC acronym.

Milton Ezrati, a senior economist and market strategist at Lord Abbett & Co. LLC, recently published a report titled, “Broken BRIC,” in which he questions the notion of lumping those economies together – especially in view of their wealth of differences.

“We, at Lord Abbett, were always skeptical of BRIC,” Ezrati said in an interview with MarketWatch.com, noting that investors should diversify beyond emerging markets. “The whole concept behind the BRIC, that these four countries were leaders, is no longer the case today.”

Ezrati no doubt has his share of dissenters, who can quickly point out that while the stock markets of China, India and Brazil are taking their lumps, they are the only major economies in the world with positive GDP growth.

Effect on Local Elections

Looking at Russia’s recent local election results, the country’s decline into the financial red is having little effect on the popularity of United Russia, the party of former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Elections were held yesterday and preliminary results show United Russia racking up commanding leads in local elections around the country, The Associated Press reported. Of course, allegations of election violations abound.

But the bottom line is that those in power are keeping it. Doing so engraves their names next to the economy’s decline; but it also gives them a chance to take credit for recovery if their policies work.

Source: Russia’s Economic Demise Could Turn “BRIC” to “BIC”

It sounds like retailers may be disappointed with the results of this years biggest shopping day, as there really isn’t any ‘must have’ items, and consumers are being a little tighter with their wallets.

Consumer spending as reported in the US on Tuesday slid the most in seven years last month. Another report released by the Commerce department showed business investment also tumbled last month. Orders for US durable goods fell twice as much as forecast. And spending in Europe, the UK, and Japan is also dropping. UK consumer spending dropped the most since 1995 and business investment also fell. The global slowdown has hit consumer and business confidence, encouraging them to reign in their spending. This can become a vicious cycle, as the slowdown in consumer and business spending causes the global economy to continue to slow, bringing confidence levels down even more. I expect the global slowdown to intensify, and look for a major drop in US GDP over the next few quarters.

Leaders hope to break this pattern by increasing government spending and stimulus packages. The European Union proposed $259 billion in stimulus measures and President-elect Barack Obama is pushing for another stimulus package here in the US. While I am talking about Obama, did you see he announced former Fed Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as his main economic advisor? Both Chuck and I are fans of Mr. Volcker, but then we both figured Paulson and Bernanke were good choices also. I guess we will have to see if Volcker can resurrect another ‘magic bullet’ to get us out of this vicious cycle. Things are just about as bad as they were back in the 70’s and 80’s, but he has ‘been there, done that’. Hopefully his past experiences will help him steer the new administration in the right direction.

Chuck was watching the data print Wednesday morning, and left me these thoughts:

“New-Home Sales Sink 5.3% to Lowest Level in 17 Years U. Mich. Confidence – new low since ‘80 Chicago PMI collapses Consumer Spending Fell to 7-Year Low in October Americans’ Food Stamp Use Nears All-Time High

And can’t imagine what in the world the people that make the official call on a recession the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) are thinking… I called this a recession back in January, and they have yet to make the call… Amazing!

Of all that bad data, the only one that will have a good outcome in the end, is the Consumer Spending falling to a 7-year low. We’ve gone on with this spending more than we make, for far too long! Now, if we could just get the Gov’t to do the same!

And I would imagine that course of action for Consumer Spending will be staying steady Eddie for some months to come, and more and more we see +500K numbers each week on the Initial Jobless Claims… It’s going to get ugly folks… And I’m afraid that a lot of pain is going to have to be suffered before this ship gets straightened out… So, be careful out there!”

I agree with Chuck, the decline in consumer spending is actually a good thing. The only problem is that our economy depends on consumers to borrow and spend, so the belt tightening is going to really drag this slowdown out. Even if Obama convinces congress to spend another couple hundred billion, the government can’t make up for consumers who have decided to shut their wallets.

This is what happened in Japan over the past several years, as Japanese consumers stopped spending. This created a deflationary spiral as prices of consumer goods continued to fall, encouraging Japanese shoppers to just wait a while longer, as they were able to purchase goods cheaper in the future. While this helped move Japanese consumer balance sheets back into the black, it was a major drag on the Japanese economy. The BOJ fought against this deflationary spiral by bringing interest rates down to zero and holding them there for a number of years. Japan is still in a low inflation environment, and the Japanese continue to have one of the best saving rates in the world.

But I just don’t think the US consumer will stay away for too long. Sales, offers of ‘lay away’ plans, and spend now pay later programs will likely lure shoppers back into the stores. But I do believe retail sales will continue to be weaker than in the past, and the slowdown of consumer spending will continue to be a drag on the US recovery. Again, I don’t expect the US to recover for a number of years. The US slowdown will continue through 2009 and into 2010.

Chinese officials made the biggest interest rate cut in 11 years in an effort to keep their economy from slowing below their goal of 8%. The interest rate cut follows the announcement of a 4 trillion Yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package earlier this month. There have been some civil unrest and protests by unemployed workers, so this is an attempt by the Chinese leaders to get the economy moving in the right direction again.

I read a story on Bloomberg this morning which predicted China’s foreign exchange reserves would top $2 trillion for the first time later this year. China’s holdings have increased 25% this year, while those of Japan and Russia shrank. Apparently, Russia has been selling off its currency and gold assets in an attempt to prop up the ruble. China continues to build up their reserves, and the huge amount is concerning to the currency markets. China will not hesitate to use these reserves to stimulate their economy, and what currency are a majority of these reserves held? US dollars!! In order for China to put these reserves to work, they will need to sell the dollars and get the money pumped back into the Chinese economy. These reserves are a major risk for holders of US$.

Currencies today 11/28/08: A$ .6528, kiwi .5481, C$ .8073, euro 1.2766, sterling 1.5336, Swiss .8257, ISK (No Quote), rand 10.135 krone 6.9762, SEK 8.0655, forint 203.165, zloty 2.9574, koruna 19.717, yen 95.34, baht 35.53, sing 1.5108, HKD 7.7504, INR 50.10, China 6.8306, pesos 13.243, BRL 2.3274, dollar index 86.49, Oil $53.50, Silver $10.23, and Gold… $813.00

Source: Black Friday

With an economy that’s advancing at an average annual clip of better than 11%, $1.7 trillion in currency reserves, and an emerging middle class that will soon be the world’s largest, China represents the future to globally focused investors and businesses alike. But there’s always been a concern about just how resilient China’s economy actually would prove to be.

Rogers urged investors to dump such concerns.

In fact, according to Rogers, when it comes to the Red Dragon, only one thing could cause this powerful expansion to wash out: A major water crisis.

“China has a huge water problem,” he said. “In Northern China, they’re running out of water. They know this and they’re working on it, big time. But if they don’t solve it, or if they don’t solve it in time, then China – as you put it – has failed.”

Rogers first made a name for himself with The Quantum Fund, a hedge fund that’s often described as the first truly global investment vehicle, which he and partner George Soros founded in 1970. Over the next decade, Quantum gained 4,200%, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed about 50%.

It was after Rogers “retired” in 1980 that the public first really got to see him in action. After traveling the world on a motorcycle, Rogers penned the best seller “Investment Biker” – and gained the moniker: “Adventure Capitalist.” And he’s used the “on-the-ground” insights he gained on that trip and others that followed to make some truly historic market calls: Rogers predicted China’s meteoric growth a good decade before it became apparent to other investing “experts,” and he subsequently foretold of the powerful updraft in global commodities prices that is continuing to fuel a year-long bull market in the agriculture, energy and mining sectors.

In his newest best seller, “A Bull in China,” Rogers writes about China and the commodities boom, and details dozens of ways investors can profit from these trends.

Given Rogers’ prescience – not to mention all the uncertainty that right now surrounds the U.S. economy – we thought it was well worth a sit-down with the noted guru, even if it meant traveling all the way to Singapore, where he now lives with his family, to do so.

During that hour-long interview at his home in Singapore’s exclusive Orchard Park district – with the two of us talking as he pedaled his exercise bike furiously, despite the morning heat – Rogers also said that:

• Oil prices are only going to go higher.
• That Russia will continue to “strip itself” of assets, meaning it will never emerge as an economic force.
• And that the U.S. dollar’s woes will continue.

Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of the Money Morning interview with investor and author Jim Rogers.
Keith Fitz-Gerald (Q): Can you see an instance where China fails?

Jim Rogers: Of course. Anybody – and everything – can fail. But [let’s consider] the main problem first.

I don’t worry about war or epidemics or depression or even political upheaval. Everybody has had that. America had horrible problems. We had a terrible Civil War. We had political leaders regularly assassinated 125 years ago. We had massacres in the streets. We had no human rights. We had no rule of law. You could buy and sell congressmen. You can still buy and sell congressmen in America, but they were much cheaper in those days.

America had many disasters, and yet it became the great success story of the 20th Century. As recently as 1907, the entire system went bankrupt in America: The government, Wall Street, everything. And yet, America came out of that and went on to big things.

All of those things can happen in China and would be temporary setbacks. I don’t consider any of them being the end of the China story.

The only thing that worries me permanently about the China story is water.

I’ve been around the world twice. I’ve seen many cities, societies, [and] nations that disappeared because the water disappeared. China has a huge water problem. In Northern China, they’re running out of water. They know this and they’re working on it, big time. But if they don’t solve it, or if they don’t solve it in time, then China – as you put it – has failed.

By the way, Northern India has the same problem, only worse. Many places have it now. Water is becoming a huge problem worldwide. The same is true in the Southwestern United States. You know, you may have Arizona going to war with California. Some sections of Nevada, Colorado …they’re desperate there.

So it’s not just China – but water’s the main thing that worries me about China.

As I say [that] civil war would be a terrible thing in China, but it’d be a temporary setback, as would epidemics, as would economic setbacks, [and as would a] depression. But China will come out of all that and keep going forward. Now, I don’t anticipate war in China – even civil war – but I’m suggesting that if it happened, I don’t see it as the end of the story any more than it was the end of the story in the United States.

Q: There’s a confluence of money flowing into and around China. Do you believe that the United States, with all its current problems, will get left out of this powerful and important trend?

Rogers: Absolutely.

The U.S. dollar is a terribly flawed currency. I’m trying to get all of my money out of U.S. dollars. I don’t know why anybody would put money into the U.S. dollar, and by extension into the U.S., as we stand here today. The U.S. is probably the largest debtor nation the world has ever seen!

The United States’ foreign debts are increasing at the rate of $1 trillion U.S. dollars every 15 months. U.S. foreign debt is over $13 trillion, and rising rapidly. It’s the official policy of the central bank to debase the currency. They’re trying to drive down the value of the dollar.

Q: Is the Chinese Renminbi the next great “liquidity haven” if the U.S. dollar fails? Or do you see the Euro rising to the occasion?