I recently attended The World Money Showin Hong Kong (17-19 March) which was an event that brought together one of the finest gatherings of global financial experts including Jim Rogers, Steve Forbes, Victor Chu, Marc Faber, and many others. There couldn’t have been a more appropriate time for this forum as global markets are undergoing unprecedented turmoil.

Marc Faber, fund manager and publisher of the widely read monthly investment newsletter, The Gloom Boom & Doom Report, shares with us his views on the global crisis, the US Dollar, stocks, commodities and US Treasury bonds.

US President Obama has made government investment in alternative energies a priority, and this has led to growing interest in investing in the alternative energy sector. In this exclusive interview with DailyMarkets.com, Claymore Securities president, Christian Magoon, discusses some of the sectors they cover such as clean energy, solar energy, water and shipping. Claymore Securities is an ETF provider that differentiates itself from the crowd by providing ETFs focused on specific sectors rather than just broad indices.

With the new administration set to invest more in clean energy, solar energy could benefit. How is the Claymore/MAC global Solar Energy ETF (TAN) structured and what type of exposure will it give investors to the possible upside under the new administration? Is most of the allocation in US or global companies?

In this DailyMarkets.com exclusive, I spoke by phone with legendary investor Jim Rogers who made his fortune with the Quantum Fund, a hedge fund he co-founded with George Soros in 1970. Over the next 10 years, Quantum gained 4200% while the S&P 500 index rose about 47%.

He is also the author of the best-selling books “Hot Commodities”, “Investment Biker” and “Adventure Capitalist”. Rogers, who created the Rogers International Commodities Index ((RICI)) in 1998, is one of the most closely watched investors. If you are fed up with the Fed, you are not alone. Recently, Rogers said that Paulson and Bernanke should resign for keeping “zombie banks” alive as they should be allowed to fail.

Barack Obama will be sworn in as the US President in a few days’ time, and investors are looking at how to position their portfolios to benefit from the new administration’s projects. In this interview, Ed McRedmond, Senior Vice President at Invesco Powershares, gives investors some ideas about how to position themselves using Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).

The new administration has promised to take on major infrastructure upgrades as a way of boosting the economy. What would be some of the ways to take advantage of this upcoming government spending?

High market volatility doesn’t stop just because traders are taking it easy with Christmas holidays lurking around the corner. One of the biggest movements in the financial markets this week has got to be the fast and furious decline of the US dollar in the forex market, which has turned cold from hot, in as fast a speed as for-sale designer wear being snapped up at Saks Fifth Avenue.

The US dollar has fallen more than 1300 pips against the Swiss franc since Monday (and it’s only Thursday!), from a high of 1.1770 to Thursday’s intraday low of 1.0410, which makes it the biggest weekly fall ever!

Invesco PowerShares is probably best known for the PowerShares Nasdaq 100 (QQQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq index. But apart from the Qs, Invesco PowerShares has many other ETFs suited to different market conditions and investors’ needs. Ed McRedmond, Senior Vice President at Invesco PowerShares, shares with DailyMarkets some insights into a few of them.

During the election Barack Obama said renewable clean energy would be an important part of his administration’s development plans. There are several PowerShares clean energy ETFs, which do you think will benefit most from the new Obama administration?

On Monday (3 Nov 2008) I attended the Inside Commodities conference at the New York Stock Exchange ((NYSE)). The conference was organized by IndexUniverse and hosted at the NYSE. Since the NYSE has acquired AMEX and is boosting its offering of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a lot of the focus was on the ETFs and ETNs (exchange traded notes) available to take advantage of commodities. The event was organized as a series of panels covering different types of commodities from metals to agriculture and included panelists such as renowned investor Jim Rogers. The organizers had us sign a paper saying we wouldn’t quote the speakers, so I’ll give an overview of the different thoughts rather than what individual panelists said.

Almost all the panelists were in agreement that the short-term outlook for commodities was bearish. The average time frame given for the continued bearishness was at least another 9-18 months. Jim Rogers, though, thinks that commodities are in a secular bull market and that the current retracement is simply caused by forced liquidation and deleveraging, and can’t be considered a real bear market.

The British pound suffered another super massive blow today (Friday) after the release of the UK GDP report which showed that the UK economy is in deep trouble. The economy shrank by 0.5% in the three months to September (-0.2% expected) -- the first contraction since the second quarter of 1992. The contraction is the largest since 1990. To illustrate the gravity of the pound’s fall from grace, GBP fell more than 1000 pips today against the US dollar, plunging from 1.6330 to below 1.5300 intraday - all in less than one day!

60-min chart of GBP/USD

The forex markets are feeling another round of aftershocks caused by the ongoing economic and financial crisis. The British pound and the Euro plunged yesterday (Tuesday) and today against the US dollar after renewed fears of a global recession caused traders to unwind more of their positions in the carry trade which is now dead. Of course, massive hedge fund redemptions are also playing a big role in The Great Unwind. Recession fever has spread from the US to Europe - the threat of a looming recession is now very real to UK, and that scenario was warned by Bank of England’s governor Mervyn King for the first time ever. King said:

Taken together, the combination of a squeeze on real take-home pay and a decline in the availability of credit poses the risk of a sharp and prolonged slowdown in domestic demand. Indeed, it now seems likely that the UK economy is entering a recession.

Trading in the forex markets today (Wednesday) has been relatively calm, unlike the volatile moves in the US stock markets. Most currency pairs have been moving in a sideways manner, but that’s not to say that nothing is happening; in fact, a lot of things are happening, so much so that it may have been difficult for you to keep track of. No worries. First of all, the latest US economic data released today is very negative - retail sales had the steepest fall in 3 years in September and manufacturing activity in New York has deteriorated, falling to a record low.

Now, these days, bad news is good news for the US dollar - strangely, but not too strangely. US stock markets take negative economic/financial news and developments quite badly (as mentioned in the previous post, stock investors are still having a lot of doubt), so when you have data like this, coupled with Bernanke’s sombre tone about the US economy (he said we shouldn’t expect the credit markets and economy to recover right away), stocks have a natural bias to fall; the Dow ((^DJI)) fell below 9,000 intraday today.

Global stock markets have traded higher after central banks from the US, Eurozone, UK and Switzerland worked in coordinated effort to pump unlimited US dollars (which used to be capped) into the global financial system Monday, and following the announcement of various central banks working hard and pledging their resolve to “not let banks fail” and “doing all they can to support the financial system”. Economically, nothing has been altered in a perceivable way, but psychologically, that is a boost to investors’ confidence. Credit markets, and not to mention the stock markets, basically work on the basis of confidence, so that explains the rise in Asian, European and US stocks today.

Are we going to see a major return to carry trades as a result of this “global effort”? Hardly . Although the US dollar initially lost its footing, it later rebounded to trade higher against many currencies like the Euro and Swiss franc in forex trading. As long as people are feeling the heat from the ongoing economic and financial turmoil, the US dollar is likely to retain its uptrend bias of higher highs and higher lows (not in a straight rally of course).

Panic and risk avoidance continues to dominate the investing landscape on Friday, resulting in the zigzag rollercoaster ride in the markets. The Dow has been losing blood again, despite repeated calls of a market bottom by market analysts and bloggers. The S&P 500 index is posting its biggest ever weekly decline this week. In this climate of high uncertainty, no one really knows anything better than another. People are saying the market should be in a bottom anytime soon, or even now.. Even in a bear market, prices don’t really dive down in a straight line, but make a series of lower highs and lower lows, so not having done that indicates a high level of fear among investors. The fear gauge - VIX 9(^VIX, the volatility index)0 - has shot up to another record high in intraday trading Friday.

Adding to this widespread fear is the realization that rules are constantly changing in the stock trading game. Remember the short-selling ban, which was recently imposed then lifted? Well, that may be reinstated again, but under different circumstances. On Friday afternoon, it was reported that NYSE and NASDAQ are seeking a 3-day ban on short-selling of individual stocks should they fall 20% from the prior day.

The stream of news regarding bailout plans and credit markets remains endless, and market gyrations are still continuing, albeit to a much smaller extent. Today (Thursday) is one rare day this week whereby price swings are not that wild, and traders and investors actually have some time to digest all the humongous moves in the stock and forex markets, and to consolidate their fears.

Yesterday central banks around the world, including the Fed, issued a joint statement regarding the cutting of benchmark interest rates in their respective countries - an unprecedented, never-before move.

Mayhem ensues in the financial markets again today. $700 billion bailout plan signed into law? That’s not reassuring to Main Street any more. Central banks working hard to inject liquidity into the markets? No visible effect. Governments to insure full bank deposits in some European countries? That’s nice, but people are still nervous, so scared. All that’s really making a lasting impact is how the financial crisis seems to be worsening day by day.

BNP Paribas (BNPQY.PK) has agreed to buy Fortis’ units in Belgium and Luxembourg for 14.5 billion euros ($19.8 billion) after a government rescue plan fell apart. Over in Germany, the government put together a 50 billion euro bailout plan for Hypo Real Estate, Germany’s second-biggest commercial property lender - a move that shocked the Europeans and caused the euro to tumble further.

Financial institutions have tightened their grip on their purse strings, and their level of caution in dealing with other banks and financial firms has risen sharply since the collapse of Lehman Brothers (LEH). Forex trading volume is now much reduced compared to before, just like in stock trading. Thursday is another day of uncertainty in global markets, and despite all odds, the US dollar has chalked up another day of strong gains against the Euro, Swiss franc, British pound, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar in the forex markets.

This dollar upward momentum has almost little or nothing to do with economic data from the US, but rather, is likely to be associated with the lack of liquidity in the markets, and the downbeat remarks made by ECB honcho Trichet. Large speculators closing their losing short USD positions also contribute to the sharp rise in the dollar as their stops get hit. It doesn’t matter that US initial jobless claims rose to the highest level in 7 years, coming in at 497,000 in the week ended Sept. 27, the highest since 517,000 in the week ended Sept. 29, 2001.

The British pound got off to a very bad start on Monday in the forex markets, posting a very steep decline against the US dollar and Japanese yen on news that the UK buy-to-let mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley  had been nationalized by the UK government, in the latest round of financial market turmoil. The UK Treasury said on Monday morning that the B&B’s savings accounts and 200 branches were being sold to Spanish bank Santander for £612million, but the state is absorbing all the rubbish - £41billion “worth” (well, worthless) of mortgage-related assets. GBP/USD tumbled a massive 400 pips in forex trading today - the steepest daily drop in 15 years - and GBP/JPY fell a whopping 600 pips. Unbelievable shorting action! Currency traders are finding it more rational to short the British pound against these currencies, and B&B’s woes only served to worsen the sentiment on the sterling. Keep in mind that when you trade the pound, make sure you factor possible slippage into your calculations as that can be very wide even when the market moves in your favor.

Asian stock markets fell, followed by European stock indices. 

The US dollar has not given up the fight in the forex markets following its sharp decline on Monday.

Many analysts are saying the dollar is in peril, and that it is going to reverse its recent uptrend because of the government’s intention to print more money, thus diluting the pool of money available.

It’s only the first trading day of the week, but still we are already flooded with major news one after another nonstop. The US financial system is now being restructured rather drastically, with proposals now underway to convert US investment banks Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS) into traditional depositary banks, and also for US Treasury’s Paulson to have unprecedented power when it comes to holding the nation’s purse strings.

The US dollar lost more ground Monday in forex trading, falling to a 3-week low against the Euro, and a 4-week low against the Swiss franc and the British pound. With sentiment churning up against the dollar last Friday in favor once again of carry trades, coinciding with major countries’ ban on covered short selling, are we going to see a sharp reversal of the dollar uptrend now? According to the latest Commitment of Traders report, large speculators like hedge funds continued to pile on Euro shorts ( which increased to 40,654 from 36,432 conracts in the prior week) in the currency futures market on the IMM, so if stops are tripped on the downside as the dollar falls, expect a decline with quick momentum. EUR/USD’s nearest resistance is around 1.4710, then 1.4770. USD/CHF’s next downside targets are 1.0780-1.0800, 1.0740-50.

Short-covering and bidding interest pushed the Dow over 400 points intraday in stock trading on Friday and London’s FTSE 100 closed up by more than 8%. As much as many people are elated at SEC’s ban on short selling, there are also many traders fuming at this illogical and unreasonable decision, including myself. After all, money can be made both ways, when an asset goes up and when an asset goes down. Why make short sellers out to be ruthless and manipulative when many of them also do their homework before deciding to short a stock? Say bye to free markets. We can also say bye bye to liquidity in the markets too.

Why is this so? Because short selling is a necessary part of any free market. It is the ability for a security to be pushed down in price when short-sellers realize it has lower value than what the market has priced it at. Banning short selling of these companies will artificially inflate their prices as no one will be allowed to short them if they think the stock is not worth its price. Sure, short-selling has been abused, but that abuse seems to pale in comparison to the artificial market pumping that is going on now and the rescuing of certain companies thus guaranteeing their bonds and benefiting a select group in Wall Street. Besides, many of these companies of which short-selling is now banned on their stock have been the worst market abusers in everything from overleveraged subprime, naked shortselling, commodities pumping etc.

Bailout Nation, that’s what comes to my mind when I hear about the Fed and US government coming up with their latest and broadest plan to erase all the toxic mortgage-related assets from banks and other financial institutions (Paulson said Friday that he will ask Congress to take legislative action next week). They have figured it won’t be enough to bail out individual companies one after another since so many companies are in deep trouble, drowning in debts and losses due to the absence of liquidity in the credit markets. Of course, stocks all around the world have shot up in a one-way street in response to this and also other plans announced by global central banks.

US President Bush authorized the US Treasury to tap up to $50 billion from a Depression-era fund to insure the holdings of eligible money market mutual funds, plus SEC’s Cox announced on Friday a ban on normal short selling (not just naked short selling anymore!) on 799 financial stocks in the US till October 2, imitating UK FSA’s footsteps. In the UK, short selling of banks, insurers and other financial companies will be banned starting next Tuesday and will last till the end of 2008.