24/7 Wall St. has focused on the ratings with a “positive” outlook from Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and/or Fitch with a bias towards nations that investors can easily invest in via ADR shares, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The featured nations that may be upgraded in 2012 are Brazil, Chile, China (with Hong Kong), Indonesia, Peru, Russia, South Korea, and Turkey.

Read: Nations Set For Credit Ratings Beyond Upgrades, Beyond The Euro Crisis

There is another slew of countries for which S&P has a “positive” outlook stance: Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Latvia, Panama, and Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, these nations are almost impossible for Americans to invest in due to their size, the small number of public companies, and a lack of ETFs or mutual funds covering them.

The 24/7 Wall St. list is presented alphabetically and features relevant ratings. Also included are economic details and important developments to consider. Lastly, we have provided a list of the key closed-end funds, ETFs, and ADRs specific to each nation. Population estimates and purchasing power parity GDP for 2010 were taken from the CIA World Factbook.

All you have to do is look at the exchange-traded funds and closed-end which track the emerging markets and the BRIC nations (and those surrounding the BRICs).  Ugly is not quite the right description and we will explain more after showing just how bad the carnage is.  Greece is no emerging market, but it is on the path to default faster than emerging markets used to default.

The ETFs for the broad emerging markets is not a good signal for their equity markets.  The revolutions of early 2011 did not help, nor did the food inflation, but the economic slowing is taking a hit here left and right.  iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NYSE: EEM) closed down 2.1% at $34.36 and the 52-week trading range is $34.29 to $50.43 (52-week low was Monday).  Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock ETF (NYSE: VWO) closed down 1.75% at $35.20 and the 52-week trading range is $35.13 to $50.92 (52-week low was Monday). 

We have included the most active ETF chart on each from Stockcharts.com at the end of this report.  The data on the BRICs is almost shocking…

BRAZIL

Brazil may have energy independence and the Olympics headed its way, but the implosion there has been massive.  The BOVESPA lost 2.9% of its value on Monday and let’s just say that its high-flyers are now grounded due to more than just weather.  It seems that minerals and forestry are not going to generate cash, just like it missed out on royalties from the term “Brazilian” in personal grooming. 

iShares MSCI Brazil Index (NYSE: EWZ) closed down 2.1% at $50.89 and the 52-week trading range is $50.71 to $81.77 (52-week low was Monday).  Market Vectors Brazil Small-Cap ETF (NYSE: BRF) closed down 3.15% at $37.96 and the 52-week trading range is $37.73 to $63.78 (52-week low was Monday).  iShares MSCI Chile Investable Market Index (NYSE: ECH) closed down 3.8% at $51.16 and the 52-week trading range is $50.92 to $80.38 (52-week low was Monday).  Aberdeen Chile Fund, Inc. (NYSE: CH) closed down 4.9%  at $13.45 and the 52-week trading range is $13.37 to $26.56 (52-week low was Monday).

We have given some wide expectations, issues to watch, and background data on each stock for this coming week.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B, BRK-B) released the Annual Letter to shareholders from Warren Buffett this weekend.  Buffett was far more confident than last year’s dreadful letter and with reason, most of his positions are now well above water.  We have noticed how short sellers have attacked the Buffett stocks in the most recent data from last week.  Buffett will be on a 3-hour breakfast chat with Becky Quick on CNBC Monday morning, so Buffett headlines are likely to rule for at least all of Monday.

The Chile Fund Inc. (NYSE: CH) as a closed-end fund and the iShares MSCI Chile Investable Mkt Idx (NYSE: ECH) as an ETF are going to be important to watch.  This is on the heels of an 8.8-magnitude earthquake that severely damaged Chile over the weekend.  We do not have a count on deaths and injuries yet, but this may interrupt the country’s GDP growth significantly in 2010.  It is always to cover issues from these in a few sentences when you know how much pain and suffering is happening.

CombinatoRx, Incorporated (NASDAQ: CRXX) fell on Friday ahead of the Monday March 1 FDA PDUFA goal date for the review of its Exalgo™ extended-release opioid painkiller tablet new drug application.  This NDA application date was moved from Monday, February 22, 2010 to Monday, March 1, 2010 due to federal government closings due to snow.  This can be a make or break event due to its micro-cap status. Shares closed down 8% at $1.12 on more than 200% normal trading volume on Friday.  The 52-week trading range is $0.41 to $2.60.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) is scheduled to report earnings Wednesday morning.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.71 EPS on about $18.5 billion.  We remain focused on valuation here at more than 20-times 2010 earnings estimates and at $60.97 it is within 1% of its 52-week high of $61.52.

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. (NYSE: RDY) was given a very positive article in Barron’s over the weekend.  The Indian generic drug company closed at $24.61 in its USD ADR and two analysts predicted it could run up to $29.63 and to $30.82 as its sales are expected to double to $3 billion in 2013. It was noted that GlaxoSmithkline (NYSE: GSK) was interested in taking a stake.  Its 52-week range is $7.27 to $27.33.  If the markets are flat or solid, it seems that Dr. Reddy’s may have up to a 2% or so Barron’s-pop.

Millipore Inc. (NYSE: MIL) has yet to show that a bid is on the table above that it is ‘exploring strategic alternatives’ after  last week’s M&A leak.  The $6 billion said to be on the table from Thermo Fisher (NYSE: TMO) is said to include debt and there were late-week rumors that 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) may join the fray here to add Millipore in with its Cuno operations.  If a deal is going to come, we’d look for more news on Monday or Tuesday rather than this story just dying down.

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) has become the go-to stock proxy for a vote on the future of Greece in its steady troubles with the Euro.  There are mixed reports over Greece’s bailout. The WSJ has said over the weekend that a package is coming by Friday, yet Germany’s Merkel has said the IMF is the only agency which can save Greece, according to a Handelsblatt report.  The National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) will be THE proxy to watch.  As recently as November the Greek ADR would trade a mere half million shares per day.  Now that number is closer to 2 million shares per day.  This is the proxy to watch Monday for the Greece bailout situation.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) was given the ultimate pan this week by Wall Street and Barron’s is only adding fuel to the fire here.  Barron’s argues its phones are great and that no one is buying the things as they opt for just about every other maker.  And its expanded carrier plan still is weak, as are the promotions and the advertisements.  I noted how options traders were betting on even more and more downside over at OptionsZone.com this last week despite the selling which had already been seen.  Barron’s notes the hope of a takeover, but also noted the chances being a long shot from Dell or H-P… Now Barron’s gave this the ultimate snub: “without some surprise news, Palm could drift back down toward $3….”  Palm started last week above $9.00 then down close to $8.00 before dropping the ball about its warning and shares went down to $6.53. With a 6.7% drop to $6.09 Friday, Barron’s is calling for another 50% drop.

SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) broke under $1.00 briefly Friday and shares closed down 4.6% at $1.02 on Friday.  After the company posted positive earnings and then traded as high as $1.18, we promised late on Friday to give an updated outlook.  I have been behind the company for a rather long time… down at $0.15 and under, and I had noted to buy the shares, take physical delivery of the shares, and stick them in a drawer.  It is time to lighten up here.  The stock can rise, but the implied dilution from Malone and Liberty here is just too great.  The Pandora competition coming in March and even the Howard Stern contract game are two sideshows in our analysis.  Its 3.6 billion shares already are one thing, but if Liberty were to covert its convertible preferred stake we’d be somewhere around 6.45 billion shares trying to try to capture some of the implied value at more than $2.5 billion today.  The ride might not be over, but smart money would take at least half of the position off the table now.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and Ford Motor (NYSE: F) are on deck for February auto sales on Tuesday.  There is now way that weather in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast will not have played a role in hurting the sales comparisons to 2009, but we are going to get to see just how poorly Toyota’s recalls are hurting Toyota and just how much Ford has been able to capitalize in market share.  Edmunds noted the lowest Toyota market share in years, yet the stock has not busted really under $71 and traders have supported it.  Dennis Gartman on CNBC Friday just said he prefers to be long Ford.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG

We searched for funds and ETF’s in emerging markets from Eastern Europeto Russia to Asia to Africa to South America… and the actualsell-off from highs is starting to look amazing.  We haven’t even had aglobal economic crisis that hit Asia like we did in 1998.Interestingly enough, much of this may be solely on the global growthslowdown and a flight to quality.

What else is interesting is that chasing inflows and outflows for investorsin US markets versus emerging markets in real invested dollar terms isstaggering.  To move the market value of the DJIA up 1% in realsupply/demand driven stock markets is massive.  The value of the DJIA’s30 components alone is worth more than $3.5 Trillion on last look.  Itdoesn’t really take $35 Billion worth of net excess and aggregate stockbuying to drive the entire DJIA up 1%, but so the theory goes.  But a $35 Billionrotation into even a basket of emerging markets would create one hellof a market day around the globe.

Below are some of the closed-end mutual funds and ETF’s from emergingmarkets that hit 52-week lows on Friday and we have even shown how farsome of these are off from their stated 52-week highs:

• The China Fund, Inc. (NYSE: CHN) at $28.35, down 47% from $52.97 high
• iShares Malaysia (NYSE: EWM) at $9.32, down 33% from $14.05 high
• Latin American Discovery Fund Inc. (NYSE: LDF) at $22.10, down 39% from $36.23 high
• Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Fund Inc. (NYSE: MSF) at $16.16, down 54% from $35.45 high
• RMR ASIA REAL ESTATE (AMEX: RAF) at $10.97, down 35% from $17.08 high
• Claymore/AlphaShares China Real Estate (NYSE: TAO) at $15.99, down 42% from $27.57 high

Here are a few others with recognized names which have hit 52-week lowsin recent days or are at least very close to 52-week lows, and here we haveshown Friday’s closing price and how far down these are from stated52-week highs as well:

• Templeton Russia and East European Fund Inc. (NYSE: TRF) at $45.62, down 41% from $78.00 high
• Indonesia Fund Inc. (AMEX: IF) at $8.69, down about 38% from $14.00 high
• iShares MSCI South Africa Index (NYSE: EZA) at $53.47, down 30% from $76.90 high
• The Chile Fund Inc. (AMEX: CH) at $16.10, down about 33% from $24.00 high

If we were allowed to go on and on, this list of near-low emerging market ETF’s would go on and on as well.

Markets, particularly emerging markets, never die off permanently andindefinitely.  Many investors use these funds for their IRA’s and forlong-term speculation.  While troubles are abound in Afghanistan, Iraq,Georgia, Sudan, and other great destinations, remember the longsteadfast advice attributed to Templeton’s Mark Mobius: "Invest whenthere is blood in the streets." 

As far as where these trade in the days and weeks ahead is anyone’s guess.  Most investors start falling in love with emerging markets after they have made massive runs and when they look stable.  It takes those with guts and foresight to begin investing in these after they have seen major sell-offs.  Closed-end funds can also trade at huge premiums or discounts their net asset values, and we won’t dare make the analogy these markets are cheap just because they have sold off so much.  But all of these instruments do track markets rather than just a couple stocks and as we noted, those markets never stay down or out of favor forever.

We have started covering some of these issues for long-term investors and here are some of the recent articles:
Africa: The Final Emerging Market Frontier
On the Russian military action against Georgia
China, heading to recession?

Jon C. Ogg
August 18, 2008

The Nikkei fell .1% to 13,830. Konica Minolta was down 3.5% to 1871. NTT (NTT) was up 1.2% to 506000.

The Hang Seng rose 1.1% to 22,699. China Life (LFC) was up 2.3% to 26.45. China Netcom (CN) was up 3.4% to 21.60.

The Shanghai Composite was up 3.4% to 2,905.

Data from Reuters

Douglas A. McIntyre

The Nikkei was off .7% to 15,043. Hitachi (HIT) rose 2.3% to 750. Softbank fell 4.7% to 2395.

The Hang Seng dropped. .6% to 27,460. China Netcom (CN) rose 5,5% to 21.15. China Petroleum (SNP) fell 2.3% to 10.42.

The Shanghai Composite fell .9% to 5,270.

Data from Reuters

Douglas A. McIntyre