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Travel to any country in Latin America and you will see the visible hand of China at work: a computer manufacturing plant in Mexico, a copper mine in Peru, a football stadium in Costa Rica. In the year 2007, the thought of China in Latin America would have appeared, at best, improbable. But in a three-year stretch, China signed free trade agreements with Chile, Peru and Costa Rica, inked billions of dollars worth of deals in oil and mining projects throughout the region, and supplanted the US as Brazil's biggest trading partner. Once almost unseen in Latin America, China’s bilateral trade has risen from $12bn in 2000 to well over $150bn today.Given the importance of its new Asian friend, Latin Americans are rolling out the red carpets to Chinese business delegations and jumping on planes not only to Beijing but also to Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Tianjin.Complete Story »

Andrew Wilkinson submits: Vale SA (VALE) – Two opposite-minded options strategists initiated directional plays on the Brazilian metals and mining firm in the July contract today. Shares of the world’s biggest iron ore producer are currently flat at $27.03 as of 3:30 pm (ET). One of the investors populating the July contract purchased a bearish put spread while the other trader enacted a bullish risk reversal. The pessimistic player picked up 6,000 puts at the July $26 strike for a premium of $0.81 apiece, spread against the sale of the same number of puts at the lower July $22 strike for a premium of $0.20 each. The net cost of the put spread amounts to $0.61 per contract. The put-spreader is positioned to profit should shares of the underlying stock decline 6.05% from the current price to breach the effective breakeven point to the downside at $25.39 by expiration. Maximum available profits of $3.39 per contract pad the investor’s wallet if Vale’s shares plummet 18.6% to $22.00 ahead of expiration day in July. In contrast to the bearish put spread, another options strategist initiated a bullish risk reversal, selling 4,000 puts at the July $25 strike for a premium of $0.57 each, in order to purchase the same number of calls at the higher July $30 strike for a premium of $0.46 apiece. The responsible party pockets a net credit of $0.11 per contract, and keeps the full amount as long as Vale’s shares exceed $25.00 through July expiration. Additional profits accumulate if shares of the underlying stock rally 11% to surpass the $30.00-level by expiration day next month. Options implied volatility on Vale SA is higher by 7.7% to 46.29% just before 3:40 pm (ET). TiVo, Inc. (TIVO) – Shares of the provider of technology and services for TiVo® subscription-based digital video recorders shot up as much as 8.25% today to touch an intraday high of $8.26 on speculation DirecTV is considering a buyout. The rally in the price of the underlying stock and takeover chatter inspired bullish options activity on TIVO during the session. One long-term optimist purchased a plain-vanilla debit call spread to position for sharply higher shares by expiration in January 2011. The investor picked up 1,000 calls at the January 2011 $11 strike for a premium of $1.16 each, and sold the same number of calls at the higher January 2011 $17.5 strike for a premium of $0.34 apiece. The net cost of the bullish play amounts to $0.82 per contract. Therefore, the investor responsible for the spread is prepared to profit should shares of the underlying stock surge 43% from the today’s high of $8.26 to surpass the effective breakeven point on the spread at $11.82 by January 2011 expiration. The call spreader stands ready to amass maximum potential profits of $5.68 per contract if TiVo’s shares jump 111.8% to trade above $17.50 by expiration day. Complete Story »

Zacks.com submits:
Following the US moratorium on offshore drilling due to oil spill, Petrobras (PBR) could benefit from the US Gulf of Mexico (GoM) rigs. Since the upstream players are closing down deepwater GoM drilling activity for the time being, rig operators are looking at a better place to work with. Nearly 35 rigs are inoperative following the moratorium. Oilfield service companies are presently inquiring about the movement of their rigs to Brazil from GoM. While the moratorium was initially fixed for a period of six months, it may protract due to the negative sentiment against offshore drilling and plans for refurbishment of safety standards.Complete Story »

Thomas Smicklas submits:Recently, the New-York based Americas Society, in conjunction with the Council of the Americas, issued an assessment of the climate for U.S. investment in Cuba. "Cuba has persistently ranked as one of the worst business environments in the world", stated Maria Werlau, a consultant specializing in Cuban affairs."The economy is in shambles, suffers from a high external debt and has investment rules that stifle international investments in and about the country."Complete Story »

Michael Johnston submits:After soaring higher on Monday, equity markets finished the day slightly lower, with the Dow and the S&P 500 both retreating by 0.34%. Despite a flat market, one asset saw its price almost hit another record high: gold. The precious metal finished the day at $1,220/oz., up close to $20 on the day. Many cited the lack of faith in fiat money as the main reason for gold’s steady rise over the past few weeks. Gold is “really being looked at as an alternative currency right now,” said Nicholas Brooks, head of research and investment strategy at ETF Securities. The ETFdb 60 Index, a benchmark measuring the performance of asset classes available through ETFs, slid 1.27 points, or 0.1%, to close at 1,042.82. Aggregate volume once again topped 1 billion shares, suggesting that investors remain very active.Complete Story »

Trader Mark submits:Now that it's 2007 all over again, and I am playing with oceanic oil drillers again, it's time to brush up on the subject.

1. [Sep 4, 2007: I'm Buying One Group Today - Deep Sea Oil Drillers]
2. [Sep 13, 2007: I found Goldman's Other Deep Sea Driller Pick - Atwood Oceanics]
3. [Oct 11, 2007: Could it Finally be Time for the Deep Sea Drillers?]

Ah those were the days, writing 8 posts a day to an audience of 40 people. ;) People often ask how do you know about so many stocks / sectors ... frankly, a lot of it is rehash. You do this long enough and you will have touched just about every sector and countless stocks. For example I spent the past 3 weeks reading up on JDS Uniphase (JDSU) and Finisar (FNSR). Folks, these are 1999 stocks; all I had to do was figure out what they were up to the past 11 years. ;) But I digress.Complete Story »

Frederic Ruffy submits: SentimentWeakness in the financials combined with the options expiration triggered an uptick in market volatility Friday. Today is the January options expiration, which often sets record volume due the fact that many former Long-term Equity Anticipation Securities [LEAP] expire in the January. With about an hour left to trade, 8.3 million calls and 6.7 million puts traded so far.Meanwhile, Bank of America (BAC) is down 3.3 percent and the biggest loser in the Dow Jones Industrial Average amid relative weakness in the financials. The sector came under pressure early after JP Morgan (JPM) reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, but revenues fell short of analyst estimates.Complete Story »

Frederic Ruffy submits: SentimentThe major averages are modestly higher despite a round of disappointing economic data Thursday. Data released before the opening bell on Wall Street showed retail sales falling .3 percent in December, and significantly worse than the +.5 percent that economists were expecting. Meanwhile, separate data showed a larger-than-expected (11K) uptick in weekly jobless claims in the period ended January 9.Yet, while stock index futures slipped on the news, the stock market averages opened steady and were modestly higher midday. With 50 minutes left to trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is now up 38 points and near session highs. The NASDAQ added 14 points ahead of earnings from Intel (INTC), due out after the closing bell.Complete Story »

Frederic Ruffy submits: SentimentThe major averages opened steady and the early gains were extended in a relatively slow news day Wednesday. With no economic data or important earnings to guide the morning action, the focus was on Capitol Hill -- where the Financial Crisis Inquiry Committee grilled top executives of the major banks about their role in the credit market debacle of 2008. The questions and answers held to major surprises.Consequently, many of the financials -- including Dow components BofA (BAC) and JP Morgan (JPM) -- battled back from early weakness and are holding modest gains late in the session. The Dow is up 53 points and not far from session highs. Some of the tech names are battling back from two days of weakness as well and, after falling 30 points Tuesday, the tech-heavy NASDAQ is up 25 points.Complete Story »

David Hunkar submits: Last month I wrote an article titled Five Companies with the Largest Market Cap Gains in this Decade. Three of the companies in that list were BHP Billiton (BHP) (BBL), Vale (VALE) and Petrobras (PBR).In the Year-End Review of Markets & Finance, The Wall Street Journal listed the biggest gainers in market value in 2009. Only stocks which had a market value of at least $5B at the start of the year were considered in this ranking.Complete Story »