So… The euro reached a new record high overnight of 1.6038! WOW! This was reached based on the fears that credit problems in the U.S. are going to put the kyboshes on what little economic growth we now have. But the shine on the euro was rubbed out by a very weak ZEW… German Investor Confidence as measured by the think tank, ZEW, fell to a record low this month on the surging inflation problems, and rising interest rates. So for now, the euro is back below 1.60, but hear me now and listen to me later… This ZEW will soon be in the rear view mirror, and the euro won’t have that albatross around its neck as it revisits its overnight high…

And don’t look now, but the Aussie dollar is up to 98-cents! WOW! I’ve said for about 8 months that I wouldn’t be surprised to see the A$ at parity to the green/peachback… It certainly has that parity look about it does it not? The last time the A$ was 98-cents was 1983… 25-years ago… 1/4 of a century, and all that!

The U.K. pound sterling is back to $2, which seems totally unlikely an event as possible, but it has happened, so, go on and crow if you thought I was wrong to say the pound was going to have problems once the Bank of England (BOE) started its rate cut cycle…

And the Canadian dollar / loonie has crept back to parity! It’s been a long, time coming… It’s going to be a long, time gone… (a little CSNY)…

And, the poor, downtrodden, Japanese yen, is at the bottom of the 105 handle, and looking like it wants to trade with a 104 next to it! I had to laugh at a story I saw flash across the screen… The title was… “Yen may gain as Bank of Japan (BOJ) is more likely to raise rates than the Fed”. Now that’s funny! Ok, stay with me on this… A month ago, the dollar was getting bought like Pet Rocks because Fed Chairman, Big Ben Bernanke hinted that he was going to be an inflation fighter, thus interest rates would go higher… But here we are a month later, there’s been no sign of Big Ben the inflation fighter, and now it’s deemed that the BOJ could raise rates before the Fed!

And the dollar bulls wonder why their currency is getting sold like funnel cakes at a state fair? Why don’t the dollar bulls give Big Ben a call on the telly, and see if he can’t help them out? Oh… That’s right, Big Ben doesn’t take calls from just anyone… According to our friend, Jim Rogers, on his Bloomberg TV interview yesterday morning… “Ben Bernanke and Paulson only take calls from their Wall Street Buddies”… HA!

Speaking of Jim Rogers… He was full of you know what and vinegar yesterday morning… He didn’t pull any punches and said what was on his mind… You should have seen me here at the trading desk, Jim Rogers would say something, and I would clap and hoot and holler! At one point, Rogers said that the Gov’t’s plan to rescue Freddie and Fannie was “an unmitigated disaster”…

So… Remember early in the year when I kept telling you that there would be another “risk event” this year, and then we had the Bear Stearns meltdown, but that wasn’t it for the “risk events” , and I kept harping that there would be more? Well… It’s not like I was wishing, and hoping and thinkin’ and praying for these things to happen… I was simply pointing out that the world today has too many “risk events” all over, and with the credit woes in the U.S. and the housing and mortgage meltdowns, I just figure it would touch here a few times.

Anyway… What I’m trying to get at here is simply that these are the things I kept telling people to protect themselves from by diversifying into currencies and precious metals… I also, recall, the wink, wink, I gave you when Gold was trading below $900 about a month ago… Today, Gold is $983!

OK, enough with all the “I told you so” talk! Let’s talk about today… Well, today has “risk” written all over it! Big Ben goes to the “hill” to talk to lawmakers about the economy and Fed direction… You have to think that before the Meltdown last week of Freddie and Fannie (see more talk about them, I just can’t leave them on the side of the road!), that Big Ben would go to the “hill” and talk the inflation fighter talk… But now… Not now… Not with the financial sector in meltdown mode… So this is a double-edged sword… If he doesn’t go and sound hawkish, then the markets will take that as no rate hike is coming and take the dollar to the woodshed again… (you would think by now that the dollar would have gotten used to these beatings!)

Besides Big Ben, we get a ton-o-data today… PPI for June… Retail Sales for June… And Business Inventories for May… Retail Sales is the Big Kahuna of data today… And I would think that given the tax rebate checks that were still being mailed in June, Retail Sales would remain somewhat robust… Wait till July’s number, I saw all the shopping bags from my beautiful bride’s trip to Chicago this morning! But that’s for next month! For now, PPI poses a treat to future Consumer inflation, so this one plays big too…

If any of this stuff comes in worse than expected, we could see the dollar not only get taken to the woodshed, but told to go pick the switch that it will get beaten with.

Source: Credit Woes Sink The Dollar!

They are seeking cheap, easy access to the 2,000-mile border with the United States, and the Mexican government is helping them, even creating laws to aid them. Why? Because these people pump $5.3 billion into the country’s economy every year.

Mexico’s being paid off, and certain U.S. agencies are joining in. They want to make it even easier for foreign nationals to creep into our southern neighbor’s towns and cities.

In one popular nest, the wave of zealots has reached 60 people a day. That’s about 15% a year as the size of this camp has grown to over 200,000. The state government in the area is allowing this group to run rampant; the incoming cash is too hard to resist.

Not a single alarm has been raised, even though this one camp is a mere two-and-a-half-hour flight away from the heart of Los Angeles.

Who’s in charge, anyway? The Mexican Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Governance? The United States Customs and Border Protection? The Department of Homeland Security?

Try none of the above.

No, we’re talking about the NAR and the AMPI, who’ve been working together for the past six months while governments and activists were removing obstructive, inefficient laws that hindered their “clients.”

NAR stands for National Association of Realtors, and AMPI stands for Asociación Mexicana de Profesionales Inmobiliaros. And no, these groups are not helping fund terrorist cells in Mexico. They are helping individuals buy real estate.

I know, I know… Every time the business circle talks about housing there’s an overtone of fear: lower housing starts, homes staying on the market longer, rising interest rates, rising number of foreclosure. It all adds up to make one scary picture. The U.S. housing industry is in dire straits.

But while the U.S. housing market is still searching for its bottom, the situation is much livelier just south of the border. Mexico’s housing sector is seeing a strong resurgence.

Most of this recovery – for it is a recovery, and we’ll talk about that in just a minute – is in vacation or recreational properties. And despite the cooling investments in the U.S. housing market, Mexico is seeing investment growth.

In 2005, foreign investment in Mexico was $17.6 billion. In 2006, that number was around $20 billion, with resort and vacation property investment holding more than 25% of total investment. In fact, in the first half of 2006, 500 acres of new resort property on the Pacific Coast was snapped up for $125 million.

The market for vacation and recreational properties in Mexico is booming, with $5.3 billion of foreign investment flowing into these properties just last year. Most of the activity is centered on new markets such as Puerto Peñasco and San Felipe in Baja
California, but we’re also seeing new growth in well-known areas like Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos.

For example, one gentleman in Los Cabos has well over $100 million in property sales to his credit: condos, villas, homes, home sites and commercial resort properties…

Many buyers are coming from America. Twenty-five percent of U.S. citizens living abroad are living in Mexico. That’s about 1 million Americans – quite nearly an invasion.

Folks in Southern California can retire just over the border to Baja California and buy a comparable home for 20% less than U.S. market prices. An estimated 78.2 million people are on the edge of retirement, and a 20% savings on a retirement home with great views sounds pretty tempting.

With billions of dollars in foreign investment being pumped into Mexico’s economy, there’s been a full-blown real estate revival that extends to low-income, affordable housing.

The market for vacation and recreational properties in Mexico is booming, with
$5.3 billion of foreign investment flowing into these properties just last year.
Real estate, especially in the residential arena, may be among the country’s hottest sectors.

With the scorching hot resort and vacation industry in Mexico, you may be tempted to buy your own retirement home down there. The country has made it a lot easier, and less risky, to do so.

Investors are now protected by U.S. title insurance, bonded escrow accounts, extensive title searches, and Fideicomisos, which is a renewable Mexican property trust established specifically to protect foreign investors.

You have all the rights of a property owner in the U.S. or Canada, including the right to enjoy the property, to sell, rent, or to improve the property, whatever you want to do.

If you’re a real-estate investor, Mexico is a great emerging-market for you to consider.

–S.R. Nunnally

Source: The Big Land Grab in Mexico