RightSide Commentary -Internationals

      My weekend was saved from being a complete bust by good news from Europe where I have a very careful, grateful, and considerate readers. And good news about Google as well.

   Cristina Fernandez, the President of Argentina, suffered a pair of defeats over the past few days. First, she was forced to allow Congress to review the export taxes on Argentina agricultural goods to get the farmers to stop their strike action and highway blockages. Then too the Spanish Ence papermill in Uruguay which her own supporters were blocking the highways to stop, has won environmental approvals both from Uruguay and the U.N. 

    Her problem is not that she is a woman; it is that she continues Peronist populist policies going back to the 1950s which were revived by her very own Bill Clinton, her hubsband Nestor Kirchner. As populists go, neither is as rich, slick, or smart as Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

  My font selections are still wonky and time-wasteful on this site which keeps on hanging (freezing). Instead of 10:30 a.m., I am filing in the afternoon EST because of this, for which I apologize. Since fiddling is not much fun I will file fewer blogs as well. 

    *Barclays Asian & Gulf Currency Revaluation ETN listed and began trading on NYSE Arca under the ticker PGD. PGD offers direct exposure to the value of the multi-national money markets strategy in the five Middle Eastern and Asian market currencies including the Chinese Yuan, Hong Kong Dollar, Saudi Arabian Riyal, Singapore Dollar, and the United Arab Emirate Dirham. We already recommended a focussed Chinese yuan revaluation play.

    *First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy ETF listed as Arca: FAN. Presumably they will buy our Danish wind stock which is an easier way to play this trend. There are too many ETFs out there with ever narrower mandates, competing with similar critturs from other ETF creation groups. They will either consolidate or crash because of lack of appeal to investors.