For investors, the emerging markets have been a great place to find profits. No doubt, there are certainly risks, such as seen recently with the market turmoil in Egypt, but a diversified portfolio should solve these problems. Of course, it also helps to have lots of exposure to markets like China and Brazil.

According to Societe Generale, emerging markets may pale in comparison to the growth in commodities. Interestingly enough, it is rising commodities prices that is putting inflationary pressure on these countries. In other words, it is getting tougher for companies to pass along higher raw materials costs. As a result, there has been a rash of interest rate increases.

This is a fascinating story -- a behind-the-scenes scenario that is the stuff of conspiracies.

During the housing bubble, a huge number of questionable mortgages were created in what is called the subprime market. Many of the home buyers had shaky credit and, eventually, fell into foreclosure. Goldman Sachs (GS) held some of these securities but wanted protection against default. Where do you buy such insurance? American International Group (AIG), of course.

Under the terms of the insurance, Goldman was entitled to collect payments if the securities fell below certain agreed-upon values. You guessed it. When the housing bubble started to burst, Goldman demanded $2 billion from AIG to cover its losses.

Were we all too fast to blame AIG (AIG)?

The insurance giant's role in precipitating the worldwide financial crisis has been covered at length since it teetered on the edge of disaster in September 2008, thanks to a series of high-risk transactions executed through its financial products group. Well, Goldman Sachs (GS), which has recovered quickly from last year's woes and is already figuring out how to pay some hefty bonuses, may have played a larger role in these transactions than everyone realized.

French bank Société Générale has advised clients to be ready for a possible "global economic collapse" over the next two years, The Telegraph reports.

In a 68-page report titled "Worst-Case Debt Scenario," SocGen explains that the rescue packages over the past year have merely transferred private liabilities onto government shoulders, creating a fresh set of problems. Debt levels, public or private, are too high as a share of GDP. The deleveraging process will take years.

The world's most famous rogue trader is about to have his encounter with the criminal justice system. Jerome Kerviel, made famous by transactions he made while a trader at Societe Generale, will go to trial.

He's been charged with forgery, breach of trust and unauthorized computer use. If the French legal system finds him guilty, he could spend up to five years in prison and face a fine of up to €375,000.

Kerviel allegedly made unauthorized trades that cost SocGen more than €5 billion. The losses -- and underlying activity -- came to light in January 2008 as one of the largest trading losses ever to be sustained.

Last night, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced plans to build its first East Coast data center. The facility will be located in North Carolina, which recently enacted tax breaks to lure the popular tech company, but no specific site has yet been selected. Apple is expected to pour more than $1 billion into the project over the next nine years.

Apple spokeswoman Susan Lundgren declined to say how the data center will be used. In a statement, the tech firm said only, "We're looking forward to building a new data center in North Carolina, and we appreciate the efforts of Gov. Perdue and state lawmakers who helped make it possible." Construction is expected to begin soon.

In other Apple news today, the company is attracting bullish attention from Societe Generale. The brokerage firm started coverage of AAPL with a Buy rating and a $160 price target.

Do you feel good about $173 billion of your tax money helping to keep American International Group (NYSE: AIG) from going bust? If you made the decisions that put AIG at death's door you might be. But the odds are pretty good that you had absolutely nothing to do with AIG's failure and received not a penny of compensation during the time when its executives were reporting profits -- and getting millions in compensation that they're not paying back now that it's losing money.

That's one of the reasons why I was arguing on KCRW's To the Point that the U.S. ought to disclose who is getting the taxpayer money that goes to AIG. After all, they just got another $30 billion this week after reporting history's biggest quarterly loss of $61 billion. A professor on the program suggested that we should not disclose the names of the recipients because it would threaten the stability of the financial system. I thought this professor's argument was unpersuasive -- and now we'll get a chance to see who was right.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) reported dismal Q4 results due to lower demand.
• AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) reported a bigger-than-expected Q4 loss, sending shares lower.
• Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) earnings prospects led to an upgrade.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) posted Q4 and full-year results with increased revenue due to a stronger dollar.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) reported strong Q4 numbers that beat analysts' expectations.
• International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) reported better-than-expected Q4 and 2008 earnings.
• Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) posted strong Q4 results but lowered its 2009 guidance.
• Northern Trust Corp. (NASDAQ: NTRS) shares surged after posting better-than-expected earnings.
• Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) reported a huge loss due to write-downs and offered a bleak outlook.
• Societe Generale said that it expects to have broken even in the final quarter of 2008.
• Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) posted its second straight quarterly loss due to fuel hedging costs.
• UAL Corp. (NASDAQ: UAUA) reported a huge loss on the erosion in value of oil hedges as prices dropped.
• Usana Health Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: USNA) posted record Q4 results despite one-time charges.

For more highlights from this week, see Apple, Microsoft, GE, Johnson & Johnson, Harley Davidson and others

Banks around the world have been raising capital in the last few months. If the market is efficient, then the cost of capital for these banks should tell us something about how risky they are. Based on the relative cost of capital of banks in the U.S. compared to those in France, Germany and Switzerland, the world's riskiest banks are right here in the good old USA. The safest banks? French ones.

How so? Here is the rough (due to different capital structures) after-tax cost of capital for the banks in different countries:

• U.S.: Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is paying a 17% interest rate and Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) pays almost 17%
• UK: Barclays pays 16%; HBOS, Lloyds TSB; and Royal Bank of Scotland pay about 12%
• Germany: Commerzbank pays 10%
• Switzerland: UBS's interest rate is relative bargain of 9.9%
• France: BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, and four others pay the lowest rate -- 5% -- for their capital

Maybe there's some sort of trading opportunity to short U.S banks and go long French ones. C'est la vie!

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College. His eighth book, You Can't Order Change: Lessons From Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing, will be published by Portfolio on December 26, 2008. He has no financial interest in Goldman or Morgan Stanley securities.

The Wall Street Journal's lead (subscription required) tells the story without a hint of irony:

The French Banking Commission Friday said it fined Société Générale €4 million ($6.3 million) for failures in its internal procedures relating to the €4.9 billion loss linked to an alleged rogue trader fraud.

I'm all for regulating being tough on corporate governance, but this fine is a head scratcher. Isn't losing $7.7 billion a sufficient punishment for failures in internal procedures? Do we really need to tack on another $6.3 million. Is this supposed to serve as a deterrent? I can imagine the boardroom discussion:

"Ya know how we lost $7.7 billion?"

"Yeah! Who cares? It's just money."

"We're being fined 1/10th of 1% percent of that amount as punishment for it."

"Oh dear! We better get cracking on fixing our internal controls!"

I'm just not sure what the point of this fine and, by fining the company, the only ones who are hurt are the shareholders, albeit not on a material scale. This fine is the equivalent of giving time out to a child who just got hit by a car to teach him not to cross the street without looking both ways.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Andersons Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDE) lifted its outlook on improved performance of its Plant Nutrient Group.
• BP Plc (NYSE: BP) was upgraded by Societe Generale due in part to its earnings prospects.
• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) has developed an earnings improvement plan based on collective bonuses.
• Corel Corp. (NASDAQ: CREL) solid Q2 results did not address a buyout offer from Vector Capital.
• Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) Q2 earnings were boosted by dumping its Goldfish card division.
• Fortune Brands Inc. (NYSE: FO) lowered its earnings outlook on challenging consumer environment.
• Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. (NASDAQ: ISLE) blamed dismal results on floods and smoking bans.
• MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MXB) strong Q2 results didn't save it from being dumped by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).
• PAREXEL International Corp. (NASDAQ: PRXL) lifted its Q4 and full-year guidance, leading to an upgrade.
• Texas Industries Inc. (NYSE: TXI) was downgraded due to fears about its earnings prospects.
• Taleo Corp. (NASDAQ: TLEO) reaffirmed its outlook as an acquisition would boost results.
• WD-40 Co. (NASDAQ: WDFC) posted solid Q3 results and offered conservative guidance.

More highlights from this past week: Apollo Group, Family Dollar, Kroger, Deutsche Bank and others

Also, while Jim Cramer ponders what will signal the bottom, many investors will be looking at next week's earnings results for General Electric (NYSE: GE), the world's largest conglomerate, as a sign of the direction of the global market. And BusinessWeek reminds us that cheap stocks -- even with big names such as Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), and Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) -- are no bargain if they have no earnings.

Upcoming results to watch for include Alcoa (NYSE: AA), Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG), Marriott International (NYSE: MAR), and General Electric (NYSE: GE).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

The growth of the ultra-rich is not just something happening in the U.S. It's a global megatrend, especially in light of the commodities boom in developing nations.

The trend is a big opportunity for wealth managers, such as Rockefeller Financial Services (RFS). In fact, according to a piece in Reuters, the firm has struck an alliance with Societe Generale (SocGen). To this end, SocGen has purchased a 37% stake in RFS (the dollar amount was not disclosed).

SocGen, which has a wealth management division, is no slouch in helping the ultra-rich. But with the strong growth rates and premium fees, why not expand the platform?

As for RFS, it has roughly $29 billion in assets. Oh, and to qualify as an ultra-rich person (and become a client of RFS), you'll need to show that you're worth at least $30 million. There are about 40,000 of them in the US.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Having been released from jail last month, Societe Generale's former rogue trader Jerome Kerviel is contesting his firing -- which occurred after he lost $7 billion of the firm's money in unauthorized, hidden trades.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that Mr. Kerviel is claiming his firing was unlawful because the trades were in the black before the bank unwound them. His lawyers also claim that French law entitles him to a face to face meeting with his bosses before his firing, something that has been impossible because the terms of his bail forbid him from contact with the bank.

Hey, maybe he actually has a point. In the current environment, losing $7 billion of shareholders' money is all in a day's work. More than twice that amount of shareholder value evaporated under the leadership of James Cayne, Bear Stearns' (NYSE: BSC) chairman and former CEO.

Yeah, I know. The issue is that Mr. Kerviel didn't have the authorization to make reckless speculative bets that he didn't fully understand. But should anyone have that authority?

Just so you know: I'm being facetious. Of course Mr. Kerviel should be fired and it's hilarious that he actually has a right to a hearing to contest this. It's even more amazing that he's contesting his firing. This guy just can't seem to let go of his 15 minutes of infamy.

My collegue Zac Bissonnette posted a story about Societe Generale, the French bank that suffered a $7 billion loss at the hands of a 30-year-old trader. He points out that according to French law, the bank could not fire this big time loser without a formal explanation of the problems they have with his performance. I guess they have no dollar limit. Zac confessed to wanting to be a fly on the wall and I went into my Saturday Night Live alter-ego adding the following:

• You don't need to be a fly on the wall Zac. You know what will be said:

"We find that your performance over the last year has been quite extroadinary. We have never seen or heard of anyone losing $7 billion that was not a government official. This is so far outside of our expectatations that we feel we must put you on notice that should you lose another $7 billion we will be forced to ask for your resignation. However, you should not worry because, as is blatantly obvious the government would probably jump at the opportunity to retain someone of your experience. You would need no training and could start to lose money on the first day."

When the news first broke that low-level rogue trader Jerome Kerviel had racked up $7 billion in unauthorized trading losses, many people were puzzled. What was his motive? How had he gotten away with it? Mr. Kerviel was believed to have acted alone, but did he really?

Now The New York Times is reporting that French police have arrested Manuel Zabraniecki in connection with the case. We're wondering what his role in this disaster might have been and, perhaps more interestingly, what possible motive he might have had. As bizarre as it was that Kerviel had lost $7 billion worth of the bank's money without profiting personally, it's even more difficult to fathom a conspiracy involving more than one person committing a motive-less financial crime.

In the meantime, you'll be happy to know that, as of early February, Mr. Kerviel had not been fired because, The Wall Street Journal reported, "French law stipulates that to do that, the bank must first call him in for a sit-down meeting and explain its dissatisfaction. He has the right to bring along a trade-union official, a lawyer or anyone else he'd like."

I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that meeting.