The base metals were mostly higher on Monday. Copper moved higher, finishing at $3.5657/lb., up nearly 5 cents from Friday. Nickel also gained, closing at $9.526/lb., up 15 cents. Zinc traded spottily, ending little changed at $0.819/lb. up three-quarters of a cent.

We are seeing mob behavior in the financial markets, says Al Robinson in The Daily Reckoning Australia. The country’s main stock exchange, the ASX, is following the Dow Jones Index on its various ups and (more frequent) downs this year.

Australian Federal Treasurer Wayne Swann has approved the sale of 11% of Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) to Chinalco. The Daily Reckoning’s Dan Denning says this is just more evidence of foreign interest in Australia’s mineral deposits.

Faced with this reality, Dan says the government needs to decide whether Australia is for sale or not.

One thing for certain, as emerging giants like China and India increase their per capita income, the chase for global resources will become more intense. And Australia will be in the thick of the action…

There is a much big issue we have to tackle today. Alan Kohler framed it well over at the Business Spectator. He asks, “Is BHP is a proxy for the Great Australian Question of 2008: will Chinese industrialisation and urbanisation offset the coming global slowdown caused by the bursting of the credit bubble?”

Brazil is no longer just a tourist hot spot, but a solid profit play for savvy investors, too. And one of the best ways to profit from Brazil’s expected 4.8% growth in gross domestic product this year is to invest in one of the Latin American nation’s infrastructure-focused firms.

The base metals were mixed on Monday. Copper peaked during the pre-dawn hours, then moved steadily lower, with a small, late morning rally taking it off its lows and returning it to near break-even, with a finish at $3.3693/lb., down a quarter of a cent.

Did you see the great interview with Vancouver-based mining magnate Robert Friedland in today’s Financial Review? It’s worth three dollars to read the interview (how’s that for inflation?).

Is the Red Bear Rising again? We promised a few extra thoughts on what’s going on in the Caucasus yesterday. Here they are. Investors should take note that Russia’s Grand Geopolitical Strategy is resource based (energy and metals). This leads us to at least three insights, which could, of course, be wrong. But here they are anyway.

Citi Buys Back Securities; Jobless Claims Rise; Toyota Earnings Skid; Brazil Grows More Grain; Vale’s Record Earnings; Nestle’s Earnings Crunch

If you’re a global investor looking for global profits – including one potential way to double your money – you need to “Hit the BRICs.”