Consumer confidence ticked upward for the first time since 2007. Around the world, consumers are becoming more comfortable with the prospect of shelling out some cash, even if they're still approaching the notion with caution.

According to a survey conducted by The Nielsen Company between September 28 and October 16, 2009, consumer confidence was highest in India, with Indonesia and Norway following. Japan, Latvia, Portugal, and South Korea were at the other end of the spectrum, though South Korea did show a significant quarterly improvement.

The current head of OPEC, Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil, seems to say the same thing once a month. The repetition does not make it more convincing, but he went back to it again this weekend.

According to the AP, his view of oil is that "the high prices do not reflect market conditions but rather other factors linked to the weakening dollar, market speculation, and the U.S. subprime mortgage market turmoil."

Recent studies indicate that there is much more at play than the dollar and traders trying to make a buck. Oil exports are falling in many countries. Last month, Indonesia said it would drop out of OPEC. It is not longer a net exporter of crude. Mexico says that some of its largest fields are aging and that their yields are down, perhaps permanently.

Even in Saudi Arabia the need for petroleum to build infrastructure and fuel cars is rising, keeping more oil inside the country.

As far as anyone can tell China, India, and the emerging markets draw as much crude now as they did when oil was below $70. Governments in many of those states are still willing to underwrite the cost of oil to help drive GDP with cheap gas and diesel.

Saying that supply and demand are not at work is a convenient way to mask greed, but it does not work.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

The tipping point has come and GE (NYSE:GE) says that more than 50% of its sales will be international this year. The company, quoted by Reuters said "business in emerging markets was growing at more than twice the pace of developed markets and was likely to expand by 20 percent a year for the next several years."

GE is assuming that its sales in the US will actually slow while revenue in India, Russia, China, and other large overseas markets will pick up. Most of these emerging markets are improving their infrastructure which plays in GE's strength in industrial and infrastructure construction and management.

But, the news is double-edged. Governments in many developing countries are much less stable than they are in the . And, in markets such as Russia, Nigeria, Indonesia, China and Saudi Arabia, totalitarian governments may not elect to let companies pursue unlimited growth. Venezuela recently pushed out several international oil companies and there is no reason to believe that this kind of behavior will be isolated to that country

Increasing business in the developing work is as much about diplomacy as it is about products and services. GE may want to hire some people from the State Department.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

How does a company like Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) keep huge numbers of people in countries like Indonesia and China from using pirated copies of its software? According to Craig Mundie, Microsoft chief research and strategy officer, for now, there is little the company can do. He told Reuters: "We are realistic in recognizing that we have to work diligently over periods, that are really a decade or two, to make real progress in a number of these environments."

That means that tens of million of copies of Windows could easily bring Redmond not a single dime. It also means that the company is relying on local officials to support anti-piracy laws. Policing such large populations really isn't possible.

But, Mundie may be acting a bit cute. In all likelihood, the answer for thwarting pirates has nothing to do with laws and police. Microsoft and other large software companies are almost certainly working diligently to make ripping and copying software much more difficult. They would at least have as a goal putting in a set of systems which would disable may of the software's features if copying were attempted.

If selling a version of Window in China yields $100 and there are, say 20 million copies of pirated versions distributed per year, it add up to real money, even for Microsoft. Odds are that the problem is solved through programming and local laws to prevent stealing be damned.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Anyone who has been following Asian markets knows that many of them are on fire. Just recently, South Korea passed massive economic deregulation policies that sent the country's market flying. As the Economist nicely portrayed it last week, South Korea remains very interesting for several reasons:

• The country has a good location (between Japan and China)
• It has a good airport
• Its people are well-educated
• Healthy banks
• Record-setting stock market
• Strong foreign-exchange reserves
• Growing savings

However, what's most interesting is the fact that the stock market has reached record highs without the help of foreign investors, for the most part. This is significant because once more foreign investors begin realizing the tremendous potential of South Korea, I expect rather large sums of money to begin flowing into the country's economy -- a huge catalyst for further stock market appreciation.

As you can see from the iShares South Korea Fund (NYSE: EWY) (above), the American's primary entryway to the uspide in South Korea is also rallying.

As seen with Blackstone's mega investment from the Chinese government, private equity is setting its sights on Asia. While there are certainly risks, the rewards can be great.

Interestingly enough, since the mid 1990s, the Texas Pacific Group (TPG) has been a big player in Asia. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) the firm has actually purchased a 72% stake in PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional, which is a bank in Indonesia. In fact, the Indonesian government will maintain a stake in the bank.

The price tag is about $200 million or so -- a fairly small amount for TPG.

Yet, the deal should make it easier to get a footprint in the Indonesian market. It's also a sign that the political situation has stabilized. And with economic growth at 6%+, it should be a lucrative place for dealmaking.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Paper is King! Long live the wood products! Ah yes, that is the single most dependable mantra upon which my home state of Wisconsin is built. First there was the early fur trade that brought eager French entrepreneurs into the region. Then, there were profitable but short-lived mining opportunities that helped bring in the railroads. As land was cleared and transportation options increased, we became farmers and dairy providers extraordinaire. But perhaps most important of all have been our trees. Remember Chicago, we built you not once but a second time also after you burned the first efforts to the ground!

So what has this got to do with investing? Well, if you don't even feel a connection, perhaps you'd like to read further. There's a lot of activity swirling around the wood products sector and it's not all bad. For instance, did you know that recent polls have concluded that the decline in newspaper readership has stalled? Yes it's true, but the pollsters would like you to interpret that as meaning that internet (blog) readership is therefore in decline. I'm sure it makes no difference that the polls I viewed were conducted by agencies who mostly serve the televised news services (chuckle, chuckle, snort, snort). Perhaps one day they'll get wise and realize that newspapers are the apples, blogs are the oranges and televised newscasts are more like tasteless avocados, which are of little use until made into guacamole. For further input on the subject of newspaper journalism and it's future, please read the excellent article by Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine. Newspapers aren't suffering as badly as some would have you believe. I'll write more on this later.

This past week we received news that Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) is planning to cease Life Magazine publication. Then shortly after that we got word that we'd see the demise of Child Magazine. On both counts I'll plead, I'll believe it when I see it, or when I don't see it as the case may be. I'd give you even money on the possibility that both declarations of publication cessation are threats made towards advertising space clients as much as they're announcements to an affected readership. If I'm wrong, then you had better buy shares in the PC notebook manufacturers because they'll be selling a whole lot of them as our magazines drop out of existence one by one. Just remember that I don't think anyone ever got mugged on a subway for a magazine, and you may need to take you laptop along on your next visit to the doctor's or dentist's waiting room.