Commodities guru Jim Rogers has his eyes on Russia. And he likes what he sees. What he sees is a stable currency, a very strong central bank, and oil prices that have seemingly hit the floor. All of this bring tidings of great joy to the global gambler that discovered Russia early this year.

Within the universe of big exchange traded funds, Van Eck Global’s Market Vectors Russia (RSX) ETF is up 28.78% year-to-date, beating China’s A-shares and H-shares; basket case Brazil; emerging market darling India; the MSCI Emerging Markets Index; the S&P 500; the SPDR Gold ETF and even oil. Putin haters are going to hate this. Maybe the Kremlin spooks are manipulating the markets. Or maybe someone planted a chip in Rogers’ head and got him to say this crazy talk:

“I’m very optimistic about the future of Russia,” Rogers said during BCS investor conference in Moscow on Monday. “Certainly one of the most attractive stock markets in the world these days for me is Russia.” Reuters quoted him saying this, not RT or Sputnik International.

Dark Pools: The Rise o... Scott Patterson Best Price: $6.32 Buy New $11.74 (as of 06:25 UTC - Details) Of course, Russia is no easy task and may be best managed from far, far away.  Last month, Russian authorities kicked out Finnish investor Seppo Remes and allegedly accused him of espionage. Remes is a board member in several Russian energy companies and has been an investor in the country for 20 years. Other investors have suffered the wrath of the Russian oligarchs. But American investors by and large are buying equities at arms length, either through Market Vectors products or in a mutual fund. The only drama they face is volatility.

Russia is not like other emerging markets insofar as it tends to trade in line with oil, and its current political crisis with neighboring Ukraine means investors have to tend with Cold War-style political risk.

Investors are willing to gamble this year on Russia.

Rogers became famous by calling the early days of the commodity super cycle. His argument was that China growth would spur demand in everything from soybeans to iron ore. The call made him sort of a sage when it comes to commodities. Russia is a big oil and gas play. So Russia’s role in global commodities has it on Rogers’ radar. He’s been saying ‘buy Russia’ since October. Two months later, his call looked foolish when the ruble hit an all-time low of 70 to 1.

Read the Whole Article

Broken Markets: How Hi... Saluzzi, Joseph C. Best Price: $7.44 Buy New $24.98 (as of 05:40 UTC - Details)

The Secret Club That R... Kate Kelly Best Price: $2.23 Buy New $16.87 (as of 09:55 UTC - Details)

The Great Deformation:... David A. Stockman Best Price: $2.00 Buy New $9.95 (as of 09:55 UTC - Details)

Amazon Prime (One Year... Check Amazon for Pricing.

$post_author: WP_User Object
(
    [data] => stdClass Object
        (
            [ID] => 5860
            [user_login] => no_author
            [user_pass] => 6581364babeda3eebbeb65d5094e43d1
            [user_nicename] => no_author
            [user_email] => [email protected]
            [user_url] => 
            [user_registered] => 2013-07-08 16:44:09
            [user_activation_key] => 
            [user_status] => 0
            [display_name] => No Author
            [type] => wpuser
        )

    [ID] => 5860
    [caps] => Array
        (
            [author] => 1
        )

    [cap_key] => wp_capabilities
    [roles] => Array
        (
            [0] => author
        )

    [allcaps] => Array
        (
            [upload_files] => 1
            [edit_posts] => 1
            [edit_published_posts] => 1
            [publish_posts] => 1
            [read] => 1
            [level_2] => 1
            [level_1] => 1
            [level_0] => 1
            [delete_posts] => 1
            [delete_published_posts] => 1
            [email_single_user] => 1
            [email_multiple_users] => 1
            [tablepress_edit_tables] => 1
            [tablepress_delete_tables] => 1
            [tablepress_list_tables] => 1
            [tablepress_add_tables] => 1
            [tablepress_copy_tables] => 1
            [tablepress_import_tables] => 1
            [tablepress_export_tables] => 1
            [tablepress_access_options_screen] => 1
            [tablepress_access_about_screen] => 1
            [author] => 1
        )

    [filter] => 
    [site_id:WP_User:private] => 1
)

get_the_author_meta: 

$bio: 

$bios: Array
(
)