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

Emerging markets are the best performing markets this year. In these markets, the main market indexes of countries like Brazil have skyrocketed year-to-date (YTD) relative to other countries. For example, the MSCI Brazil Index ETF (EWZ) is up an incredible 99.42% as of September 30, 2009. Some of the Latin American ADRs have also had great runs.

The list below shows the Latin American ADRs which are up 100% or more as of Oct 6, 2009:

While I feel bad for Chicagoans and America for losing out on the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, I am very excited for Brazil. It is about time South America got the chance to host these games. My one Olympics experience was in Atlanta in 1996. I had a lot of fun back then, but I also saw first hand the economic impact that the Olympics can have on a city. (Unfortunately, I only managed to move to Atlanta nine years later).

The Olympics’s impact on Brazil should bolster the momentum that has already been growing in South America’s economic powerhouse. Brazil’s economic growth has been very uneven, but it has been trending slowly upward for the past ten years. Of course, Brazil did not escape the global recession, but it looks like domestic consumption is picking up, and the unemployment rate is declining. I am doubting there is much risk of a “double dip” for Brazil. I now count Brazil as second to commodities in terms of my investment interest (there is some correlation between the two).

With the FOMC policy decision reported at 2:15pm ET Wednesday and traders focusing on the very important G-20 meetings getting underway in Pittsburgh Thursday, politics is front and center in capital markets, and some of those became what traders call fast markets. Crude Oil ($WTIC 68.97 -2.79 -3.89%), for example, plunged in a 30-minute selling spree in the morning, and the US Dollar ($USD 76.33 +0.25 +0.32%) briefly soared and Gold bullion contracts ($GOLD 1,008.20 -6.30 -0.62%) plummeted momentarily. Equity prices snapped shortly after the Fed reported. The issue apparently has to do with Permanent Open Market Operations (POMO) and whether the US Treasury is any longer capable or interested in sustaining a low interest rate debt market supporting, bank supporting, equity market supporting interventionist policy that is whacking the Dollar.

At the 4pm ET close in New York, the markets ended on a bearish note. The S&P 500 (1,060.87 -10.79 -1.01%), DJIA (9,748.55 -81.32 -0.83%), and NASDAQ Composite (2,131.42 -14.88 -0.69%) all closed sharply lower than at 2:39pm ET with the S&P 500 (9,906.73 +76.86 +0.78%), DJIA (9,906.73 +76.86 +0.78%), and NASDAQ Composite (2,166.02 +19.72 +0.92%) showing the usual green.

One of the fastest growing sectors in emerging countries is the mining sector. Many of the emerging countries are heavily commodity-based economies. Russia is dependent on crude oil, Chile is dependent on copper, Brazil for a wide variety of natural resources, South Africa for gold and other precious metals, etc. As a result, when the prices of commodities rise these emerging markets perform very well.

One way to identify the top mining and metal sector companies in emerging markets is to review an index that specializes in this area. The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Metals & Mining Titans 30 Index is one such index. It contains 30 of the largest emerging-market companies in the this sector. These companies are selected based on "rankings by float-adjusted market capitalization, revenue and net profit."

For investors concerned with the potential for inflation here at home, companies that derive a significant portion of revenues from outside the U.S. may be of interest. Based on The Applied Finance Group’s valuation model, we found 10 attractive ADRs, as well as 10 unnatractive ADRs, with a market cap greater than $1 billion that derived more than 50% of sales from outside the U.S. in the most recent fiscal year.

An ADR (American Depositary Receipt) is a stock that trades in the U.S. but represents a specified number of shares in a foreign corporation. ADRs are bought and sold on American markets just like regular stocks, and are issued/sponsored in the U.S. by a bank or brokerage, making it easier for Americans to invest in foreign companies.

Yesterday the Illinois-based Metals Service Center Institute ((MSCI)) announced that at current shipping levels US steel inventories represent a 2.9 month supply.

The news release stated:

"Steel shipments from U.S. metals centers totaled 2.25 million tons in May, a reduction of 48.5% from May 2008 shipments. Steel shipments for the first five months of the year, at 12.3 million tons, are down 44.3% compared with last year’s period. U.S. steel inventories at metals service centers totaled 6.46 million tons at the end of May, 38.3% lower than year-ago inventories. At current shipping rates, those stocks represented a 2.9-month supply.

The trading day opened in North America on Friday with news that European Industrial Production fell by an April record of -21.6%. This exceeded the expected fall of 19.8% and led to a decline in the Euro and rally in the $USD. This news put downward pressure on equity markets, but particularly on gold, oil and respective equities.

By the afternoon, however, there was some discussion of end-of-quarter portfolio window dressing that might save the jobs of managers whose views on value have not changed since the pick-up in market prices since the March lows. So there was some buying that lifted the indexes a tad. At the bell, the DJIA (8,799.26 +28.34 +0.32%) and S&P 500 (946.21 +1.32 +0.14%) were higher on the day, while the NASDAQ Composite (1,858.80 -3.57 -0.19%) suffered a small loss.

[Excerpted from Bill Cara's Daily Report]

Thursday was Bank of America Day in US capital markets. Congressional testimony by BAC CEO Ken Lewis did not seriously damage the roles played by the US Fed and US Treasury Department. Business as usual. Well-timed as usual were the rating upgrades of BAC by their peers in Humungous Bank & Broker (HB&B), and the promotion by the Friend of The Street, Jim Cramer.

I really like some of the products out of Van Eck Global's ETF lineup; we've covered quite a few in the past. One beef I've had is while we have a litany of individual Chinese companies to choose from with American ADRs, the choices in India, Brazil (and if you are are a gunslinging investor) Russia are far more sparse. In an increasingly flat world, I do believe demographics will be destiny, as after we covered the 4th most populous country in the world two weeks ago [May 22, 2009: Guest Post - Indonesia; A Must Own Emerging Market] - let's now look at the 5th most populous.

For Brazilian exposure there are approximately 30-35 individual ADRs on American exchanges as best as I can tell - some of the more obvious big cap names are:

Stocks are set to open broadly higher on hopes the worst is over for the global economy. Less than an hour before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures indicate the Dow Jones Industrial Average might add more than 100 points in early trading. The NASDAQ is set to add 15 or 20.

Stocks moved broadly higher overseas after the major averages closed with solid gains in the US Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 169 points yesterday after the Federal Reserve said the recession might be easing.

The global crisis can be divided into four phases: a liquidity crisis which halted the flow of capital between financial institutions, a financial crisis in which stock markets collapsed and banks failed, an economic crisis marked by unemployment and low earnings and an inflation crisis, which is likely to occur as a result of the actions taken by world governments in response to the three earlier crises. Each of these global shocks has had (or will have) an indirect effect on Brazil and opportunities arise as a result of each phase.

Equity prices as shown in the major market indexes are at multi-year lows and traders are in a state of capitulation. By the end of the day, Monday, the DJIA (-250.89 -3.41% to 7114.78), the S&P 500 (-26.72 -3.47% to 743.33), and NASDAQ Composite (-53.51 -3.71% to 1387.72) closed down at support levels going back to the 1990’s. The Toronto Composite (-302.32 -3.80% to 7647.67) and Venture Board (-13.96 -1.56% to 878.94) were down there as well.

There were no winning sectors as Healthcare (XLV -2.0%), a major loser, was the best of the lot. Basic Materials (XLB -6.1%), pulled down by Chemicals, led to the downside. The Financials (XLF -3.5%) dropped equal to the broad indexes, and much of the loss was in the REITs ($DJR), which fell -7.8%, and not the banks.

Just as the US equity market was in the process of a major breakdown over the issue of possible government takeover of Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C), the White House made some comments that appeared to reject the notion of nationalization, and there was a sudden market turnabout. After Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis stated his bank was profitable and did not need government aid, BAC shares moved higher by about +20% in minutes. By the end of the session, however, the broad market rally ran out of steam.

By the end of the day, the DJIA (-100.28 -1.34% to 7365.67) and the S&P 500 (-8.89 -1.14% to 770.05) were well underwater, but the NASDAQ Composite (-1.59 -0.11% to 1441.23) closed flat.

Traders Tuesday sold risk in the US equity market, particularly the Banks ($BKS -13.9%), moving into havens like TreasuryBonds ($USB +1.78% to 127.91), US Dollars ($USD +1.05% to 85.71) and Gold ($GOLD (+$21.40/oz to 914.20). There was a period of 30 minutes starting at 11:00am ET, which happened to coincide with the Treasury Secretary unveiling of TARP II, where bank stocks got hammered.

If this was the Administrations financial rescue plan, apparently the plan has not been well negotiated with the banks, or effectively communicated, as the case may be.

The price-to-peak earnings multiple advanced to 9.7x this week as last week was a good one for equities. Stocks were up more than five percent, which broke a streak of four straight weekly declines in January. The equity rebound was certainly welcome, but much of the recent optimism in the market is related more to external factors such as President Obama’s stimulus plan currently working its way through Capitol Hill. The fact that the market’s rally was boosted by speculation over proposed legislation is a concern this week because last week’s euphoria can be erased quickly should the bill encounter more resistance than projected. Furthermore, the Obama administration is putting maximum importance on passage of the economic stimulus bill while delaying action on a follow-on bank rescue plan until the stimulus passes.

In short, we are advising caution over the short-term because any time market upside is dependent on good news from Washington there can be great volatility. While the short-term direction of the market is unknowable, we maintain that valuations have become far more attractive when looking at the long-term.

What started Wednesday in Europe with concerns about HSBC (HBC) and Deutsche Bank (DB), carried over to North America, and now Thursday to the equity markets of Asia-Pacific. Although the futures are not looking negative here, traders are watching closely for signs of deteriorating confidence.

Wednesday, in relentless selling for the first 75 minutes, followed by sidetracking the remainder of the session, the major market indexes closed well down in NY. The DJIA (-248.42 -2.94% to 8200.14), S&P 500 (-29.17 -3.35% to 842.62) and NASDAQ Composite (-56.82 -3.67% to 1489.64) all were hit hard on increased volume.