Francisco Madero was a revolutionary Mexican leader in the fight for property rights in the early part of the 20th century. Madero, a longtime politician, upset the very powerful seven-time Mexican President Porfirio Diaz by running against him in the 1910 election.

A Huge currency rally… The games people play now…RBA leaves rates unchanged…Brazilian real is the daily winner! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Even with the hype of a possible flu pandemic, the markets managed to remain positive through the week. Mexico will take the lead as we make the next critical move next week.

In the energy market Monday, oil sank below the $60 benchmark, with crude for December delivery closing at $59.33/barrel, down $3.08. December reformulated gasoline lost 6.2 cents, to $1.3059/gallon.  Early in the day, crude had fallen to $58.32, its lowest level since February, 2007, and yesterday there weren’t enough buyers to push it back over $60.

Six times a year, the Agora Financial editors converge from all over the world on Baltimore to exchange ideas about the state of the world and what it means for your investments. Much of the discussion yesterday was frankly grim.

Mexico’s central bank unexpectedly raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 7.75% Friday, warning that the rate of inflation may exceed its previous forecast.

The gold price lost about eight bucks (silver was down about 20 cents) from the open in Sydney on Thursday morning until about fifteen minutes before the Comex opened in New York yesterday morning.

Profit taking was the name of the game during Thursday trading on the Canadian Markets.

Foreclosure filings in the US rose 48% on the previous year in May, providing further evidence of a deepening housing market slump.

“While the U.S. housing market is still searching for its bottom, the situation is much livelier just south of the border.” says Sara Nunnally in Taipan Daily. “Mexico’s housing sector is seeing a strong resurgence.”

More than a million foreign nationals have crept into the costal regions of Mexico already… but that number is growing.