Kaizen Wealth Management » International

Falling Dollar Fuels Returns on Foreign Assets

Kaizen Wealth Managment — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 17:19:15 +0000

Many variables can fuel the performance of commodities and international stocks. Over the past 10 years, according to JP Morgan, a 1% drop in the Dollar has been associated with a 1.4% increase in Dollar-denominated commodity returns (CRB), and a 2.4% increase in international stocks (Dollar-denominated MSCI ACWI Ex-US). If Fed purchases and/or slow U.S. economic growth continue, which may be negative for the Dollar, investors could look to international stocks and commodities for opportunities, or to hedge their portfolios.

Source: JP Morgan Asset Management

Foreign Intrigue

Kaizen Wealth Managment — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:33:52 +0000

U.S. Stocks with Heavy Foreign Exposure: Company Listed followed by its % of Sales Outside North America

Colgate-Palmolive 81
Avon Products 77
Coca-Cola 74
Autodesk 72
Aflac 72
Merck & Co. 70
Waters 70
Caterpillar 66
Nike 66
3M 64
Pfizer 58
Proctor & Gamble 57

You may be surprised by how big your foreign exposure is, or how small your domestic exposure is, when looking at your portfolio of individual securities, or what securities your mutual funds may hold.

Opportunities in International Investing

Kaizen Wealth Managment — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:40:25 +0000

More and more, we are finding it easier to justify our higher allocations to international equities. Roughly 55% of the investable equity universe, by market cap, is outside of the U.S. Also, world GDP has outpaced the U.S. GDP every year this decade; moreover, emerging markets have seen average GDP growth since 2000 of 5.9% – compared to 1.8% for the developed economies. International investing may also be a hedge against a weaker domestic currency.

source: J.P.Morgan Asset Management