The AEX High Dividend Index (AEXHD) consists of 12 Dutch stocks with the highest dividend yields. The selection of stocks is based on the past calendar year's dividends. The eligibility criteria is that all these stocks must be part of the AEX Index, the main blue chip index of the Dutch stock market.

The weighting is based on the dividend yield and is capped at 15%. The inception date of this index was 3/4/2008. Last year the index was down 46%.

We reviewed China’s largest banks by 2008 assets on November 9th.Today let's take a look at some of China's most profitable banks.

China’s 10 Most Profitable Banks based on Net Income in 2008:

The complete list of Dutch ADRs traded on the U.S. exchanges is listed below:

The Chinese banking sector showed strong growth last year despite the global economic downturn. Interest rate cuts, reduced reserve requirements and the massive $585B infrastructure focused program helped Chinese banks achieve high growth. It will be interesting to see if Chinese banks are able repeat this performance in 2010.

The Top 10 Chinese Banks based on Assets held as of Dec 31, 2008 are listed below:

Healthcare is one of the few sectors in the U.S. that is creating jobs now and is projected to add more jobs in the future.

The Unemployment rate in the U.S. rose to 10.2% in October as per the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The sectors which had the largest job losses were construction, manufacturing, and retail. Another 558,000 persons joined the unemployed rolls which now stand at 15.7 million in the U.S.

Property prices in Asian countries have been rising at a staggering pace in the past few years due to the strength of their economies. Even during the global credit crisis last year prices did not decrease much, if at all, in most Asian countries.

In recent months, in addition to the spectacular run up in equity markets, Asian real estate markets have also heated up. In most countries this rise is not warranted based on fundamentals. While it's true that traditionally most Asians bought residential real estate as a place to live for life as opposed to making a killing via flipping, in recent years that attitude has been changing. Due to the availability of cheap credit, more Asians have become real estate speculators.

The complete list of French ADRs traded in the U.S. is listed below:

The complete list of Russian ADRs traded in the U.S.:

European companies generally pay higher dividends than American companies. Most companies have maintained that tradition during the past two years when the global financial crisis ravaged world markets. Many European banks have reduced or suspended their dividends due to government bailouts and the subsequent ownership stakes they acquired. Because of their high dividend yields, European dividend stocks are worth considering when looking for developed market equities that offer stable growth with solid dividends.

The Dow Jones EURO STOXX® Select Dividend 30 Index offers exposure to the highest dividend-paying European stocks relative to their home markets. “Set up in advance of the launch of the Euro currency, the index covers stocks from Eurozone countries and stocks are screened by defined historical non-negative dividend-per-share growth rates and dividend to earnings-per-shares ratios. The benchmark is a yield weighted index.” The iShares DJ Euro STOXX Select Dividend ETF (IDVY) which trades on the London Stock Exchange, tracks the above index. The fund has a 4.31% (Euros) dividend yield.

The complete list of Swiss ADRs traded in the U.S. can be found below:

Friday, crude oil prices settled at $77.43 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After rising for many months this year, oil prices are stabilizing or falling due to the increasing unemployment levels. The price of natural gas for December delivery closed at $4.595 per 1,000 cubic feet.

When oil prices rose to almost $150 per barrel last year, many of the oil exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, etc. reaped huge profits and built up their foreign exchange reserves.

In this post lets take a quick look at The Top 10 Global Insurance Companies by 2008 revenues.

On October 27th, ING (ING) one of the world’s largest insurance companies, was forced to split itself into two in order to comply with the strict rules enforced by the EU on firms that received government financial aid during the credit crisis last year. ING plans to divest its US online baning operation ING Direct, insurance business and about 6% of the retail banking in domestic market. ING ranks 6th in the world based on its insurance revenues and 13th among European banks as of June this year.

Unlike its neighbor Singapore, the country of Malaysia is often overlooked by investors. The economy of Malaysia is commodity-based with palm oil, crude oil and rubber being the major exports. Among the Asian emerging markets, Malaysia has some unique comparative advantages. Some of the top reasons for investing in Malaysia are listed below:

1. The Malaysian banks was virtually unaffected by the global credit crisis last year that decimated many banks especially in the western world. The Top Banks such as May Bank, Public Bank, CIMB and Malayan banking (MLYBY.PK) were not involved heavily in derivatives and weathered the crisis easily.
2. After the Asian crisis, Malaysia enacted many regulations which prevented the reckless flow of capital into and out of the country. These regulations require that capital invested in Malaysia stay invested for some years before they can be taken out.
3. As the world’s largest producer of palm oil, Malaysia has a leadership position in providing cheap edible oil to many developing countries. Palm oil is a cheaper substitute for vegetable or sunflower oil which are used in cooking. There are many huge palm oil plantations in Malaysia which benefited nicely last year when palm oil prices soared. Kuala Lumpur Kepong which trades in the OTC market with ticker KLKSY.PK is engaged in palm oil and rubber production among other products.
4. In 2008, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Malaysia increased by 38% (RM 46.1 Billion) from the previous year. Australia was the largest investor followed by US, Japan and Germany. However this year, FDI plunged to just $13 B from January thru May. But in the future FDI may increase substantially as the government has announced many liberalization measures and the country holds potential in sectors such as renewable energy, manufacturing, etc.
5. Since Islam is the largest and official religion in Malaysia, the financial sector follows the principles of Islamic finance and take very low risks compared to banks in other countries.
6. Since Independence from the British, the country has been a Parliamentary democracy with a stable government in most years. Hence political risk is low.
7. Corruption is lower in Malaysia relative other ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and others.
8. In addition to palm oil and rubber, Malaysia is blessed with an abundance of forestry, fertile agricultural land minerals like copper, iron-ore,etc.
9. Crude oil and Natural gas were discovered offshore in the 1970s and today Malaysia subsidizes gasoline for domestic consumers and is a net exporter of crude oil. The famous Petronas Tower is owned by the national state-owned oil giant Petronas.
10. While Malaysia has failed to succeed in innovation based industries like IT, biotechnology, semiconductors, etc. it has been able to excel in the agricultural and commodity sector and more recently is heavily encouraging the growth of tourism, healthcare and education sectors. Genting Berhad (GMALY.PK) is a major entertainment company that operates the famous Genting Highland Resorts outside of Kuala Lumpur, Sentosa Island in Singapore and others.

The following chart shows the 30 Most Valuable brands of Malaysia:
Click to enlarge

Some of the foreign banks that fell heavily during last year and early this year are still languishing under the $10 range. Most of them either don’t pay or have suspended dividend payments.

The following is a list of Foreign Bank ADRs that closed at under $10 as of 1/05/2009:

The complete list of Australian ADRs traded 0n the U.S. organized exchanges:

[OTC-listed stocks not included- Ed.]

The credit crisis followed by the recession triggered many bank failures and forced mergers worldwide. As a result of these mergers, some of the banks which were already larger became larger in size creating the so-called “superbanks”, especially in the U.S. These banking giants hold assets in excess of Trillions of Euros or US Dollars.

The following graphic from The Wall Street Journal shows the European banks with assets in Trillions of Euros in the first half of this year:

CPFL Energia S.A. (CPL) of Brazil and National Grid plc (NGG) of the UK currently have dividend yields over 6%.

CPFL Energia S.A. (CPL earnings growth is about 35% and revenue growth is about 10%. Last year the company had a total revenue of $5.8B) is an electric utility with 6.4 million customers. It has a net margin of 12.60%. The current dividend yield is 7.40%.

The complete list of German ADRs traded on the U.S. organized exchanges is listed below:

Despite the astonishing run up from this year’s March lows, some investors are searching for reasons to invest in bank stocks. There are many reasons to avoid them but there are also some who believe that some banks are worth looking into. In this post, I will list 9 U.S. banks in two sets that seem attractive relative to hundreds of other banks.

But before getting into the list, we must remind ourselves that the easy money in bank stocks may already be gone. For example, in Is the bank stock rally over? Peter Lee of Euromoney said:

The complete list of Chinese ADRs traded on U.S. organized exchanges is listed below: