Paulo

Australia's Risk-Based Currency Bounce

The Australian dollar has declined from almost parity with the U.S. dollar to below 65 cents.
Do not understand what you mean by the 'market optimism' following aggressive rate cuts and what is for them a big stimulus package.
Do you mean the Aussie will not fall below 60 cents as I have seen it do before??
And what do you think the bottom might be?

Is Global Diversification Dead?

A big consideration for U.S. investors is that the U.S. dollar is very high (perhaps artificially so). So, for long term investors with capital and patience, global diversification might be timely.
I am not so sure that country funds are the best way to do this. Look at Switzerland, for example (which I managed to sell at book value in Canadian dollars).
Nor am I sure that attempting to pick individual stocks at the global level is the best way to go in the present investing context.
For those with investinal fortitude and are looking long term, rolling the dice with global government inflation protected bonds, global convertible bonds and preferreds, global real estate, and so on may, given the current strength of the U.S. dollar and the Great Depression prices, be one way to go for those not fighting off foreclosure and their credit card companies and whatever.

Global Stock Market Performance

And current P/E's may not accurately reflect country P/E's six months or a year from now. At best, reasonable people might conclude that Shanghai and the U.S. look expensive at the moment, despite differences on the other measures.