Your Compass for International Investing

Ideas, insights, and lessons learned from investing globally in over 45 countries and counting.

Russia Sanctions: Q&A and Resources

The Russia sanctions resulting from the invasion of Ukraine in February have created confusion in the market. These sanctions are the first to affect many publicly traded equities on US and European Exchanges in recent memory. I am writing a Q&A today covering the mechanics of what is happening from my perspective.

One Stock in Turkey to Consider NOW

As promised, I wanted to cover specific stocks in Turkey following my background post on the country last month.  Sentiment remains terrible, and the lira is making all-time lows vs. the dollar. 
This has all the makings of the bargain bin. Turkey is not slipping into the Aegean nor the Black Sea, but the headlines make it difficult for institutional investors to bear. To protect limited capital, local investors may be forced to diversify further into USD or other assets.

Opportunities in Turkish Stocks in the Eye of the Storm

Perhaps it is the world we live in, but the economic events in Turkey over the past couple of years would usually make bigger headlines. Although the world is more occupied with start-ups, memes, and crypto, a storm and opportunity in Turkish stocks are brewing.

Over the last 24 months, the country’s currency, the Lira, has lost nearly half its value. The stock market has lost about a quarter of its value in USD terms, and inflation is currently near 20%. Yet, the biggest headlines regarding Turkey are bitcoin exchange frauds.

European Bank Stocks, Moral Hazard and Untangling Bank Regulations, Part I

Published on March 26, 2021 Time is a bit warped in the COVID-continuum. Still, some of us may remember a little less than a decade ago when European financial stability occupied major headlines for what seemed like an interminable amount of time. Bank stocks there were going to implode, and Europe could not get out of its own way to stop them.  Amidst increasing regulatory and product complexity,…

Updates on Uranium, Greece and Russia PLUS Observations on and Improvements to the Blog

This blog started a little over six months ago. I hope it has provided you with ideas, opportunities, and lessons without having to learn the hard way. Today, I want to talk about some observations on the blog itself. Specifically, what’s been popular, a general overview of the readership, and where things are generally headed. I’ll also introduce a couple of new features that I hope will improve your experience. Finally, I will update the key investment themes discussed in prior posts, namely uranium, Greece, and Russia.

A Survey of Capital Controls and Black Market FX: A Refresher for Developed Market Investors

For this first February post, I am stepping back to cover a broader topic important for international investors to understand. We will talk about FX regimes, capital controls, and black market FX—parallel market foreign exchange in PC lingo. Few investors from the US or Europe born after 1980 have never had to deal with the uncertainty surrounding foreign exchange rules, buying, or selling international securities. The dollar has been floating since 1971, and although many European countries have switched from Francs, Lira and D-Marks to Euros, the rules have been pretty straightforward. We’ll let our currency float and occasionally talk it down (rarely up) if it appreciates (depreciates) too much.