Australia, on Tuesday, became the first of the G-20 nations to hike interest rates when the Reserve Bank of Australia raised the cash rate from a 49-year low of 3% a quarter point to 3.25%.

As you might guess, the Australian dollar surged to a 14-month high against the U.S. dollar, trading at $0.8868 against its U.S. counterpart.

U.S. stock futures were higher Tuesday morning, pointing to a second day of gains, as Australia became the first G-20 economy to raise interest rates, fueling optimism about the global economic recovery.

On Monday, U.S. stocks bounced back from a two-week selloff, with all three major indices up at least 1% ahead of the upcoming third quarter earnings season to be kicked Wednesday when Alcoa (NYSE: AA) -- the first of the Dow industrials -- reports.

No doubt, the biggest surprise this morning came when the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rate quite unexpectedly by a quarter point to 3.25 percent from a 49-year low of 3 percent. With recent signs the Down Under economy was improving, this rate hike sent the Australian dollar soaring to a 14-month high against the U.S. dollar. While normally rate hikes depress stocks as they raise the cost of borrowing and doing business, in this case investors seem reassured by this as they interpret this more as a sign the recovery from the global slump is gaining momentum.

The oil industry has been working hard to find new oil reserves, and so far this year the efforts have been paying off.

It has been a year with some major discoveries that have put the oil industry in a good position to make it the year with the highest level of new discoveries since 2000.

A big reason for the increase in discoveries is improvements in technology that has allowed oil hunters to drill deeper and break through tougher rocks than they were previously able to do.

Investments in clean energy projects and companies reached $155 billion last year, surpassing fossil fuel investments. According to a United Nations report, $13.5 billion in new private investment was directed to companies that are developing new technologies, with almost half that (according to Private Equity Intelligence, Ltd.) coming from clean technology-focused private equity funds.

Clean energy sources account for the majority of energy investments last year, with $105 billion spent on developing 40GW of wind, solar, small hydro, biomass and geothermal energy generation capabilities. Large hydro (25GW) accounted for another $35 billion in investments.

Totaling $140 billion, this accounts for 56% of investments in power last year. The aggregate 65GW, however, represents only 41% of new capacity developed in 2008. Renewable energy dominated the clean technology space, 75% of the total at $117 billion.

Investments in clean energy technology grew 5% from 2007 to 2008, leading to a second consecutive record-setting year. Emerging markets made the difference last year – particularly China and Brazil. China has become the second largest wind market in the worlds (as measured by new capacity) and the world's top photovoltaic manufacturer.

Geothermal appears to be on the horizon for several countries, including Australia and Kenya. Nonetheless, the ongoing financial crisis has put the squeeze on the clean energy space. U.S. investments fell 2%, and growth slowed considerably in Europe.

While American politicians whine self-righteously about corporate governance travesties at bailed out companies they had every opportunity to extract concessions from, Australia's government is actually taking steps toward long-term improvements in executive pay practices.

The Wall Street Journal reports that "Treasurer Wayne Swan said the center-left Labor government will amend the Corporations Act to require shareholder approval for any termination payments that exceed average annual base salary, which excludes additional compensation such as shares or stock options."

Did anyone see this coming? Honestly, I didn't think that Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Four Christmases, starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon, would be the number-one movie over the five-day Thanksgiving time period. According to preliminary data at Boxofficemojo, the holiday flick took in more than $46 million at domestic theaters for the Wednesday-through-Sunday frame. I've seen the ad campaign for Christmases, and I have no intention of taking in a screening of it. I guess it was the right product at the right time.

Summit Entertainment's Twilight came in second with $39 million. Considering how hyped up this one was, and how much of an ardent following it seems to possess, frankly, I'm surprised. Where were all the teens to push this to the top of the heap? They were certainly available to pack the theaters. And those who saw it during its debut weekend had ample opportunity to engage a repeat viewing or two. Still, at a reported budget of about $37 million, the project should be profitable for Summit Entertainment (I wish I knew how much was being spent on marketing, though). It's total take so far is approaching $120 million.

Bolt from Disney (NYSE: DIS) was third with $36 million. So far, its total gross stands at almost $67 million. I'm disappointed that the cartoon isn't closer to $100 million by now. I mean, this is the Disney brand we're talking about. Plus, Bolt could be considered a test of both John Lasseter's hit-making skill and of the value of the Pixar purchase (as I alluded to in a previous piece). I expected more from this one, and I'm sure Disney execs were counting on a higher gross by this point as well (no matter what they will say in public).

Australia's Herald-Sun reports that Donald Trump's first speaking tour of Australia is in "doubt after an Ipswich-based promotion company collapsed this week, leaving about 1500 ticket holders owed more than $1.5 million."

Ever the gentleman, Trump is reportedly refusing to return the more than $1.5 million he's already been paid and is even demanding more money. Malcom Quinn, the promoter behind the bankrupt firm that had booked The Donald, told The Sun that "He has provided no services for the moneys he has received and he has indicated to me in writing on two separate occasions that not only will he be keeping the funds he has received but expects to be paid the balance regardless of whether he does or doesn't come out here."

What went wrong? It turned out that Trump wasn't the draw Quinn had hoped he would be. Tickets costing up to $2500 have been available since June but only a quarter of the seats have been sold. Ouch!

"While watching the Olympics, I couldn't thinking about the investment opportunities of the various countries participating in the games," says exchange-traded fund expert Carl Delfeld.

Recognizing that this is not a "scientific" approach nor a primary basis for seriously determining one's asset allocation the editor of Around the World with ETFs speculates, "While it is admittedly a stretch, let's consider what an ETF porfolio of the top ten countries in the Beijing Olympics medal count would look like."

"I hope that while watching the Olympic games many investors were also reminded at how the world is changing and why they need a global portfolio to capture value and growth around the world.

"The U.S. did remarkably well across the board underscoring its role as the world's leading investment destination. China surged to win the most gold and reach the symbolic level of 100 medals.

"Quite an achievement that punctuates China's growing heft. With the Shanghai Composite down 55% this year, it has come down to earth and is interesting from a valuation perspective.

"Next comes Russia with a performance fueled by a strong Olympian tradition and petro dollars but perhaps a bit overshadowed by the Georgian fiasco. I will take a pass on this one even though it is off 36% since just May.

Infrastructure assets can be stable, long-term investments, and as a result, private equity firms are certainly interested.

In fact, TPG has joined Global Infrastructure Partners – a joint venture of Credit Suisse and GE Infrastructure (NYSE: GE) – to make a preliminary $6.5 billion bid (when you include the debt load) for Asciano, a port and rails infrastructure firm based in Australia.

Actually, TPG has had a mixed performance with Australian deals. For example, the firm was unable to pull off its $11.1 billion buyout of Qantas.

Yet, now the markets are much different, and infrastructure operations definitely need cash – which is tough to get in the current credit crunch.

Asciano has about 8,000 employees and generates $2.5 billion in revenues. Some of its key assets include bulk export facilities, four leading container terminals, Stevedoring equipment and rail operations for freight and commodities. There are also joint ventures, such as Patrick Autocare (processing, storage and distribution of motor vehicles).

Of course, Ascaino has already rejected the buyout offer, but it's going to be tough to get a much higher bid, especially in light of the company's heavy debt load and weak operational performance over the past year.

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.

Just call it 'two steps forward, one step back' for the global trade talks.

The collapse of the World Trade Organization's trade talks this week without an agreement is a setback, economists contacted by BloggingStocks agreed, but it is not likely likely to prevent international trade from growing in 2009.

The nine-day talks in Geneva -- aimed at completing the Doha Round -- collapsed Tuesday after the United States and the European Union could not reach an agreement with China and India on what constituted acceptable tariffs for food imports, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The U.S. and E.U. say China and India wanted to impose prohibitively high tariffs. China and India counter that they were insisting on safeguard rules to protect their food supplies.

Economist Glen Langan told BloggingStocks the elimination of food import tariffs would have resulted in more-efficient deployment of resources, and, ultimately, lower food prices for consumer around the world, along with increased the increased commerce that trade brings. "The failure of the talks is a real loss for consumers in China, India and in the U.S. and Europe," Langan said. "It will also really hurt low cost food producers in Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Ultimately, China and India will have to relent, or the west may begin to complain about free trade conditions for manufacturing and services. That manufacturing free trade policy has been the source of a considerable amount of China's and India's economic growth."

When big cuts precede the announcement of quarterly earnings, I can't help but expect bad things in the earnings release. Today's twin announcements by Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX); first, that the company is shuttering most of its 84 Australia stores due to "challenges unique to the Australian market"; and second, that the company was cutting about 1,000 nonstore jobs; surely make it a likelihood that the fiscal third quarter was not pretty. There was not an estimate of the total job to be cut between Australian store closings, the 600 U.S. closings, the previously-announced reduction in headquarters staff and today's announcement; but it must total several thousand.

Starbucks hasn't offered any guidance for the quarter, but analyst consensus is that the company will earn profit of 18 cents a share on revenue of $2.62 billion. Analysts seem to agree that Starbucks' same-store sales, which declined in the fiscal second quarter, will decline further ("mid-single digits" according to Robert W. Baird analyst David Tarantino).

The fact that Starbucks is laying off thousands and shuttering hundreds of stores tells me the company is cleaning house in a big way due to startlingly poor results; but will investors be pleased or pessimistic about the company's now-slimmer future?

"The acronym 'BRIC-standing for Brazil, Russia, India, and China-is in vogue as shorthand for the emergence of the developing world.

"But we're herewith proposing an emended version: 'BRAC'-standing for Brazil, Russia, Australia, and Canada.

"That's because these four countries are the ones most brimming over with essential natural resource, with each one a net exporter of fuels and other natural products. In a world where resource shortages will only get worse, these countries will stand out from the pack.

"Don't get us wrong. China and India remain the largest and fastest growing emerging economies and still face exceptional futures.

"But their major resources are cheap labor, which will become less cheap as their economies keep growing. Indeed, labor costs in these countries already have begun to rise relative to the rest of the world.

"Meanwhile, continued gains in commodities mean that Australia and Canada are gaining relative to the rest of the world. It's hard to overstate just how important relative resource independence is in a world where resources are becoming ever more scarce and expensive.

Just call Apache a buying opportunity extraordinaire. Oil/gas exploration and development company Apache (NYSE: APA) has dipped about $10 from 52-week highs around $107.50 to about $97, due to oil's recent pull-back.

As a result, APA's p/e is down to about 15. A p/e of 15 may not seem that cheap, but given Apache's upside potential -- it is. Look for Apache to continue to achieve solid growth through internal investment and acquisitions. Apache has several key exploration discoveries set to enter development stage and will drill nine wells in Canada this winter as part of its oil shale operations.

Overall, analysts see Apache's oil and gas volumes increasing about 10%-12% in 2007 and 2008. Even better: the company believes it can generate double-digit production growth for the next decade. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for APA are $7.54/$8.84.

Christmas (or should I say "Xmas" -- "the holiday season" maybe?) continues to be criminalized and the companies that make a business of tinsel, gaily wrapped packages and "ho, ho, ho" don't know whether to embrace or hide from the specter of political incorrectness.

I'm sorry. Did I offend you?

In the latest blow to the no-longer-holy holidays, Santas in Sydney, Australia are being urged to say "ha, ha, ha," instead of "ho, ho, ho."

Recruitment firm Westaff (NASDAQ: WSTF), which contracts with hundreds of Santas, sending them to stores and social appearances throughout Australia, has re-vamped its training. It's telling would-be Santas that the "ho ho ho" phrase "could frighten children and could even be derogatory to women," according to an Australian newspaper.

As Zac Bissonnette says, "ho, ho, ho" is offensive? I could understand if Santas were walking around calling people nappy-headed 'hos," but Santa's jolly greeting is more kid lit than gangsta rap.

If you want to invest in an energy resource that's cheap, has a dependable supply and a proven track record, don't forget about coal. In the very (very) long term, it may become obsolete, but for the foreseeable future coal is an excellent investment for an energy source that can immediately step in to cover the rising cost and dwindling supply of oil, while alternative energy sources need to be more fully developed before they can take over as primary suppliers of electricity and more.

And if you're going to invest in coal, Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE: BTU) is an excellent bet. Frequently considered the best coal producer in its class, Peabody has the resources and size to weather any blips in the sometimes volatile coal market. Its U.S. operation is immense -- in 2006, 20% of all coal mined in America was produced by Peabody, and today, 10% of electricity produced by any source is fueled by the company's coal.

By far the most profitable part of its American operation are the company's mines in the Western states, primarily in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, which account for 75% of Peabody's production. By contrast, the Eastern states production is less profitable, mostly due to transportation problems. To that end, Peabody has recently spun off Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX), based out of Appalachia and Illinois, which analysts say should reduce costs without having a significant impact on the income stream.