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

With Marc Faber making the rounds and predicting that the US$ will go to zero, this week's screen for foreign stocks seems particularly timely. Unfortunately, investors looking to make a move now must contend with a very weak dollar, which makes overseas stocks more expensive. The specific criteria I used are listed below:

• (Domestic / Foreign = Foreign)
• (Current Year Free Cash Flow > 0)
• (Exchange not = OTC)
• (Dividend Yield % > 3)
• (Return on Assets % – Trailing 12 Months >= 15)

View complete results of the screen here in table format.

It was just last Thursday when the Financial sector was hammered (XLF -4.4%), and credit dependent speculation in the Basic Materials and Energy was also dampened (XLB -3.9% XLE -3.1%) as the equity market took a hit when traders feared that banking and credit issues are not behind us. What a difference a couple days make.

On Monday, however, after Goldman Sachs upgraded the large US banks, and futures prices in Crude Oil and Precious Metals were sent soaring at noon by fresh money sent in by the Fed, the S&P 500 (1,040.46 +15.25 +1.49%), DJIA (9,599.75 +112.08 +1.18%), and NASDAQ Composite (2,068.15 +20.04 +0.98%) all climbed a percentage point or more higher.

The US equity market gave back some more of Monday’s gains with a second day of small losses. At the close in New York, the S&P 500 (1,057.08 -3.53 -0.33%), DJIA (9,712.28 -29.92 -0.31%), and NASDAQ Composite (2,122.42 -1.62 -0.08%) were down.

The Toronto Exchange Composite (11,394.96 -0.03 -0.00%) was unchanged, but the Venture market (1,277.21 +4.90 +0.39%) followed up with another gain.

Despite modest improvement in the consumer sectors (Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary XLP, XLY +0.5%), the US equity market gave back some of Monday’s gains. At the close in New York, the S&P 500 (1,060.61 -2.37 -0.22%), DJIA (9,742.20 -47.16 -0.48%), and NASDAQ Composite (2,124.04 -6.70 -0.31%) all closed lower. The Technology and Financial sectors (XLK, XLF) both pulled back -0.5%.

Traders now will see if the last Wednesday afternoon (2:39pm ET) post-FOMC report benchmarks can be exceeded this week: S&P 500 (1,079.12), DJIA (9,906.73), and NASDAQ Composite (2,166.02).

[Excerpted from Bill Cara's Daily Report]

This story is getting old. Just when it looks like the equitymarket needs a boost, the US Dollar plunges almost -1% ($USD 76.08-0.70 -0.92%) and Financials (XLF +2.3%) and Energy (XLE +1.6%) fall inline. How low can the Dollar go?

From a session low in the mid-day Thursday, the major indexes began to rally, but ended the session near the middle of the day’s trading range.

In the continuous to and fro of the market dance, prices in New York attempted to advance as usual, but failed and ended down. At the close, the S&P 500 (1,065.49 -3.27 -0.31%), DJIA (9,783.92 -7.79 -0.08%) and NASDAQ Composite (2,126.75 -6.40 -0.30%) were all a tad lower.

Ukraine is ranked 72 out of 134 countries in the 2009 Global Competitiveness Index, showing little improvement over the previous year. Ukraine falls right in between Morocco and the Philippines as far as the index is concerned. The areas Ukraine is the weakest in are institutional environment, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, and goods market efficiency.

Not being sure how the rankings in this index are tabulated, I have to say the new Ukraine presents a different picture. Of course, there are still negatives such as poor legal protection of investments, corruption and double standards, and contradictory legislature. However, there are so many good things coming out of Ukraine recently. And there is so much geographical potential.

Financial stocks (XLF +2.6%) led the charge Thursday in NY. That’s two days in three after being clobbered on Monday. Of course, the Fed conference annual confab at a resort in Jackson Hole Wyoming is underway Friday and the monetary authorities in the US are putting on a brave face. It must be easier knowing that China and Europe equity markets are in rally mode.

At the closing bell on Thursday in New York, the S&P 500 (1,007.37 +10.91 +1.09%) closed at the third highest level this year, close to the 1012.73 high set on Aug 13. The DJIA (9,350.05 +70.89 +0.76%) and the NASDAQ Composite (1,989.22 +19.98 +1.01%), with solid gains, also almost made new highs for the year. The US market is now ahead on the week despite suffering a loss of almost -2.5% on Monday.

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MBT) – The Russian cellular communications company appeared on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner today amid a more than 6.5% decline in shares to $38.29. Despite the current dip in price, investors seem to expect a brighter future, and were observed initiating bullish call spreads in the March 2010 contract. The March 40 strike price had 3,000 calls purchased for an average premium of 6.58 each, which were spread against the sale of 3,000 calls at the higher March 50 strike for 3.10 apiece. The net cost of positioning for a significant recovery in MBT amounts to 3.48. Investors stand to accumulate maximum profits of 6.52 per contract if shares can rally up to $50.00 by expiration. Shares will need to climb 14% from the current price in order for call-spreading traders to begin to amass profits at the breakeven price of $43.48.

By Brandon Clay

Ah, Russia. Home to those infamous cold winters, backdrop to so many dark classic novels and exporter of, among other things, vodka. But that’s not all investors should think of when it comes to Russia.

Thursday’s Employment Report was a downer for US equities. Too many people had been hooked into the belief that the unemployment situation in the US, and Europe as well, was on the mend. The data shows otherwise.

With final hour selling going into the long holiday weekend, Thursday’s session was particularly nasty. The S&P 500 (896.42 -26.91 -2.91%), the DJIA (8,280.74 -223.32 -2.63%), and the NASDAQ (1,796.52 -49.20 -2.67%) were all down substantially.

By David Russell

Options trading is bullish in Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) today after the Russian wireless carrier bounced higher from an old resistance level.

While the “R” in the acronym “BRIC” may stand for the least-talked-of emerging market in the group, Russia has seen an astonishing recovery in 2009. The Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX) returned more than 103% for the three-month period ending June 5, a testament to the recovery of the Russian economy after last year’s drop. Russia’s current strength may be due to a “not-as-bad-as-we-thought” mentality, but the correction due from such sentiment could lead to further short-term growth. As oil prices recover and currency fears subside, RSX could continue to offer value in a well-diversified portfolio over the short term.

Russia’s substantial 2008 drop, a record 76% for the benchmark RTS Index, can be tied to the burst of the oil bubble late last year. With a large percentage of top holdings tied to the commodities sector, RSX tracks commodity prices closely. While RSX’s price dropped dramatically along with oil prices late last year, the reemerging demand from emerging markets has helped boost the price of scarce oil reserves in the short term.

Equity and commodity futures prices rocketed higher in the minutes following the 8:30am ET release of the US Employment Report from the Department of Labor, a positive surprise where 200,000 fewer jobs were lost than feared. Then after capturing the initial order flow that led to early gains in the first ten minutes, the enthusiasm died out as prices reversed hard for the next 35 minutes. After stunned traders backed off, the rest of the session saw low volume sideways action.

At the close, the DJIA (8,763.13 +12.89 +0.15%), S&P 500 (940.09 -2.37 -0.25%) and NASDAQ Composite (1,849.42 -0.60 -0.03%) were about flat.

At 3:23pm, nearing the close, the broad market was a tad underwater, biding time; but at the close of Friday’s session, there were very large gains and the RSI-7 had hit 90. The stunning computer-generated buy-on-close program was the only reason markets were soaring.

The DJIA (8,500.33 +96.53 +1.15%), S&P 500 (919.14 +12.31 +1.36%) and NASDAQ Composite (1,774.33 +22.54 +1.29%) all closed sharply higher for the third day in four this week.

This is the 1st Quarter 2009 edition of our ongoing hedge fund portfolio tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out the Hedge Fund 13F filings series preface.

Next up is Eric Mindich's Eton Park Capital, who was ranked 53rd in Alpha's 2008 hedge fund rankings. Mindich received an Economics degree from Harvard and then worked at Goldman Sachs' risk-arbitrage desk. After becoming the youngest partner in the history of Goldman Sachs at the age of 27, it was clear he had a bright future. In 2004, he started his hedge fund Eton Park Capital with a record $3 billion in assets and a $5 million minimum investment required of investors. Today, Mindich manages over $6 billion. Typically, Eton Park invests in long/short equity and convertible arbitrage strategies. Additionally, as much as 30% of the fund can be invested in private investments.

There was a notable absence of volume on the US pre-Memorial Day holiday Friday. After trading modestly higher for most of the session, there was a closing 45-minute pull-back in the Financials (XLF -0.7%) that left prices a bit lower on the day. The US Dollar continued its weakening, while Gold moved to higher highs, and Oil also closed stronger.

At the close, for the fifth day in six, the DJIA (8,277.32 -14.81 -0.18%), S&P 500 (887.00 -1.33 -0.15%) and NASDAQ Composite (1,692.01 -3.24 -0.19%) all were down. But, really, the session was much ado about nothing except the US Dollar, Precious Metals and US Bonds.

Wednesday started with a dive and then sold lower through the session for US equities. The broad market indexes never could muster a small intra-day rally, closing down about -3.0%. The Russell 2000 small cap index was down -4.72%.

At the close, the DJIA (8,284.89 -184.22 -2.18%), S&P 500 (883.92 -24.43 -2.69%) and NASDAQ Composite (1,664.19 -51.73 -3.01%) were hammered.

Although in Q4 2008, Mobile Telesystems [MTS] (MBT) suffered a disastrous $794.8 million foreign exchange loss to reflect book value of the company’s foreign-denominated debt due to the weak ruble, there are plenty of signs Russia’s largest mobile operator is worth investing in now. Revenue grew 4.0% to $2.42 billion from $2.33 billion a year ago, which is healthy in the current economic climate. Taking into account that the ruble declined by 16% against the dollar in the last three months of 2008, this is a signal that Mobile Telesystems is a very robust play indeed.

MTS operates GSM based mobile services across six countries within the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States); Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan and Belarus. It also has interests in foreign mobile operations in Daghestan and India, with more on this later. Within Russia, it has the highest number of post paid customers, as it looks to serve higher end users.