The complete list of ADRs from Argentina that are traded in the U.S. are listed below:

As posted in my blog, historically oil and gas both peak in the summer months. As we can see from last year's chart, oil peaked in mid July.

A new feature I’m implementing for the Enlightened American blog will be a periodic stock screen. You can expect a new screen every two weeks or so, each focusing on some segment of the investment universe.

For the inaugural edition of the screen, I am focusing on foreign ADR stocks. In a horrific 2008, U.S. stocks outperformed most foreign markets, even as the financial crisis originated from America. As such, overseas stocks may be fertile ground for bottom-fishers looking for a bounce-back. For this screen, I focused on companies with the following characteristics:

Latin American markest were in line with bourses around the world on Friday, showing strong gains with Merval (+5.9%), Bovespa (+7.17%), the Mexican IPC (+3.89%) and Chile's IPSA (+2.53%). On top of the rally among Latin American ADRs were the Argentine energy companies MetroGAS (MGS) (+37,91%), Edenor (EDN) (+21.0%) and Petrobras Energia (PZE) (+16.09%). Two other Argentine companies came in next among the top gainers, with Telecom Argentina (TEO) (+14.47%) and Banco Macro (BMA) (+12.38%). They were followed by Mexican radio broadcasting company Grupo Radio Centro (RC) (+11.56%) and Brazilian wireless service provider TIM Participacoes (TSU) (+10.49%).

Overall the market for Latin American ADRs showed a very strong gain, with only 6 ending the day lower, against 75 ADRs showing a gain. 37 Latin American ADRs were unchanged due to no trading activity.

Evo’s bark is much worse than his bite.

• The media and foreign interests have conveniently lumped Evo Morales in with the politics of Hugo Chavez. In a world where the Morales government has few kindred spirits it has coalesced with the Venezuelan leader out of convenience rather than conviction
• Bolivia is fabulously wealthy and prospective on the mining front, having been for hundreds of years the very paradigm of a mining nation with its fabulous Potosi mine. A new era of exploration and production has begun.
• A handful of miners, including some international majors are forging ahead in Bolivia with minimal hassle.
• The Half-Moon provinces have been agitating for independence. This may yet be achieved, however, we would note that this would make the “upper” half of Bolivia even more dependent upon large-scale mining for its financial survival. The resources or skillsets for “go-it-alone” in a nationalized context do not exist.
• The Morales government has an obsession with reversing the corrupt Comibol privatization, and rightly so, however its efforts are being painted in a negative light because Xstrata (XSRAF.PK) is the main party in the spotlight for having ended up with the wrong assets. This is more a reflection of Xstrata’s failures in due diligence than on the Morales’ government in our opinion.
• The Morales government is not the unsophisticated revolutionary regime that many would paint it. Peasants are renowned for their instinct at self-preservation and bettering their interests, foreign investors should interpret the reports and actions in this light.

The Weight of History

Here is a list of the best performing American Depository Receipt [ADR] stocks Year-To-Date:

All of the companies discussed below are based in Argentina, and have ADR's [or ADS's] that trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

The last 52 weeks have been a volatile year for YPF's stock, which has ranged from as high as $64.75 to as low as $36.40. The stock is currently trading on the lower end of that range, at $42.75, but it has been climbing pretty steadily since hitting its 52-week low back in June.

This doesn't surprise me, as I think YPF is a solid bet for the future. It's a subsidiary of a huge company in a business where size matters, and it is involved at all stages of the business. Its pipelines and tankers enable it to deliver crude and refined products, and it is developing production in several places in Argentina. Its margins are improving, with its income rising faster than its sales over the past five years, and a reorganization effort that occurred in early 2005 should improve margins even further. So far, results in 2006 have shown a jump in revenues of about 10% and, even better, the company has little debt to burden it in the coming years.