The US dollar is down 20% since 2002 on a trade weighted basis. Other world economies like China are dynamic, with growth rates of 8 and 9%. With that kind of clout, countries like China, India and Brazil, can choose where to place their reserves.

Slowly, developing countries are shifting their reserves away from the dollar into the euro and yen. Neil Mellor, strategist at Bank of New York Mellon Corp (NYSE: BK), which has some $20 trillion dollars in assets under custody said: "I don't think there will be an imminent move, but it is quite clear there's a plan to shift reserves to a more balanced portfolio."

Barclays Capital Research reported that central banks placed 63% of new cash in non US currencies between April and July.

Bloomberg News took a recent poll of its subscribers. Here are some highlights of the survey:

• Only 31% of investors saw investment opportunities in the stock market, down from 35% in the July survey.
• Worldwide, investors see the U.S. as the weakest link in the world economy. Twenty five percent of respondents see an unemployment rate of 11% in the U.S. next year.
• Respondents see China and India as the most promising markets and commodities are the asset of choice.
• Real Estate and bonds are out of favor, with 40% saying that bonds will have the worst returns over the next year.

"We're adding Brazil's Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE), the world's leading iron ore producer, to our model growth portfolio," says growth stock expert Stephen Leeb.

In his The Complete Investor, he explains, "This outstanding company offers investors simultaneous stakes in two key areas: iron ore-a commodity essential to any and all infrastructure projects-and Brazil's appreciating currency, the real.

"When it comes to understanding the importance of a commodity such as iron ore, the tale starts with China. Even with China's GDP growth again approaching double digits, the Chinese government continues to aggressively promote growth, offering consumers incentives to buy cars and investing in infrastructure, from roads to bridges to sewers to energy plants.

"Brazil has long been our favorite of the BRIC countries," says Carl Delfeld. In his Chartwell Global Wealth Letter, the advisor looks at two favored Brazilian equity ETFs.

"Brazil seems to have confounded its critics, who view it as a boom and bust economy; the country has been upgraded to investment grade status by Moody's.

"The US ratings agency cited the resilience of the Brazilian economy to the financial crisis for the upgrade of its sovereign debt ratings one notch to Baa3, its lowest investment grade rating.

"This elevation of quality is well earned after years of reform in the country that led to lower inflation and a stronger currency as well as lower levels of government debt.

Last year's bull run in commodities was led mainly by oil, grains and gold. This year we've had spectacular bull runs in the "soft" commodities, which include mainly, coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar and orange juice.

Tea is at an all-time high; cocoa is at a 30-year high; and sugar is at a 28.5-year high. Orange juice reached its highest price in 15 months. Tea prices for the best quality broken pekoe, or BP1, surged to a record $5.02 a kilogram, up 70% since January.

"Gafisa S.A. (NYSE: GFA) is a bet on Brazil; the company is the country's second-largest homebuilder," says international investing expert Nicholas Vardy.

In his The Global Bull Market Alert, he adds, "Brazilian homebuilders are a red-hot sector in a red-hot market. Brazil is one of the strongest-performing global markets this year, and one that you should definitely have exposure to in the final quarter of 2009.

"Brazilian homebuilders are a red-hot sector in a red-hot market. Stocks in this sector have already doubled their share prices this year as policy makers cut interest rates to a record low and the government unveiled a 34 billion real ($18.8 billion) housing stimulus plan.

The clean technology wave just got a little bigger. This tends to be a side-effect of interest from billionaire investor George Soros. And, as usual, it's more than just money; it's more than just a return. Soros, yet again, is trying to save the world. Interestingly, the bold move was announced at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate – an international association consisting of 430 newspapers from 150 countries (and thus with clear ties to the past, rather than future).

The investor and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC is planning to put $1 billion into clean-tech opportunities using what he calls "rather stringent criteria," which involves being "profitable but should also actually make a contribution to solving the problem [i.e., of clean technology adoption and proliferation]." Soros didn't provide any other details on the nature or scope of his investments.

It was an historic day when Rio de Janeiro was chosen as host for the 2016 Summer Olympic games -- the first emerging market ever to host the games.

It many ways it marked a formal "coming out" party, if you will, for emerging markets. It was a statement -- a confirmation -- of the the developing world's improved status in the early globalization era. It said, "We've arrived."

President Obama started an intense debate in recent months about national health care. People are concerned about how to pay for the high cost of health care in America and feel it is just too expensive. There has to be a better way!

I like oranges and I grew up in Wisconsin, but in January oranges do not grow very well in Wisconsin. I don't know why -- I am not a horticulturalist -- but maybe it's the lack of sunlight, hard frozen tundra, blowing snow or temperatures of 25 below zero. We could spend a long time pointlessly debating the actual reason.

The G-20 is meeting again, this time in Pittsburgh, and as is so often the case when the world's industrial powers gather, the operative phrase is 'lower your expectations.'

What can investors look for? Well, one thing investors should not look for is any G-20 type of action on banker compensation/bonuses, other than a call for each nation, 'to do more to ensure that constructive incentives are in place' to prevent a repeat of the lending practices/perverse incentives that helped trigger the global financial crisis. There is support for compensation caps in Europe (except Germany); however, the United States and United Kingdom oppose them, so the issue is a non-starter.

In the emerging markets, a key to growth is mobile. And, this is revving up M&A activity for the major operators, who are trying to grab marketshare.

This is certainly the case with Vivendi. Recently, the company's chief -- Jean-Bernard Levy -- said he has a credit line of close to $9 billion to do deals.

Well, he hasn't wasted much time. Late yesterday, Vivendi announced a buyout bid for GVT SA, which is a fixed-line phone company in Brazil. The transaction comes to about $3 billion (or a 16% premium to the current stock price).

A few weeks ago, we heard reports that sugar prices would rise because of weather conditions and supply/demand factors. Sugar prices recently hit a 28-year high, trading at 23 cents per pound.

New data suggests that sugar prices may drop as much as 24%, according to Craig Ruffolo of McKeany Falvel company. He says that markets are already anticipating lower prices well before the next Brazilian harvest.

"Our latest pick combines two highly profitable asset classes, small caps and emerging markets," says Nicholas Vardy. In The Global Bull Market Alert, he an emerging markets ETF.

"The SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF (NYSE: EWX) offers you access to small caps in emerging markets that otherwise would be off limits.

"While some of the larger emerging market stocks trade in the United States, these smaller players never will.

"In addition, it's well known that U.S. small caps tend to outperform large caps over the long run. Their small size makes them nimble and quicker to react to changing market conditions.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is urging lawmakers in his country and in Brazil to consider a free-trade agreement between the Latin American giants, Bloomberg News reported.

If it's approved, this would be no small economic development. First, the pact would further diversify Mexico's trade base: currently, 80% of Mexico's exports go to the United States. Second, and perhaps even more significant, the action would create spin-off commerce in each country. Typically, when free trade pacts are passed, they lead to increases in GDP and in aggregate demand, which leads to new businesses.

"Several global utilities offer excellent growth potential while throwing off moderate income," says Stephen Leeb in Income Performance Letter. Here's a look at a pair of Brazilian utilities.

"We particularly favor two companies in Brazil. The economy appears to be on the mend from the global financial crisis and should be expanding at a 5% pace again by 2010.

"Brazil's prosperity is translating into greater consumption of electricity and water. Two major beneficiaries are our Growth & Income holdings CPFL Energia (NYSE: CPL) and Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo (NYSE: SBS), known as SABESP for short.