What's up with the U.S. dollar?

Can gold prices keep rising indefinitely?

An ounce of the yellow metal could be had for US$800 in late 2009; but it now requires more than $1,800 to buy a similar quantity of gold. The same goes for the Brazilian real, which was worth 40 cents of U.S. currency in late ’08 and is now worth more than 62 cents. As for pesos of the Mexican variety, that currency’s value has appreciated from U.S. 6.7 cents per peso in early 2009 to a recent level of 8 cents.

What about the other Latin American currencies?

Year to date,Colombia’s peso has appreciated just shy of 8% relative to the Yankee dollar, easily outdistancing the impressive 4.9% gain in Brazil’s real for the same period. Resource-rich Peru has suffered from weak ores and minerals prices along with its election of a president with a history of leftist sympathies; yet its currency—the ”new sol”—has gained 3% versus the greenback year to date. Chile’s peso is up 1.4% relative to the buck for the period. And little Uruguay, usually considered not much more than an economic backwater, sports a peso that is now worth 4.5% more in U.S. dollar terms than it was at the end of last year. The nation has discovered capitalism!

The “2011 Business Climate Index” compiled by The Getulio Vargas Foundation of Brazil and the Economic Research Institute of Germany positioned Uruguay with 7.5 points and Colombia with 7.4 points as the most-pro business countries in the Latin American region.

Read more in the attached weekly update and ...

Happy trading this week!

Rudy