Forget China, time to move to Australia

Something really unprecidented would have to happen to get me to pack up my lovely Manhattan apartment and move out of the United States.  But it is no secret that the once super power of the 1950s to the 1990s is certainly on the decline while emerging market countries such as China, Brazil, India, and Russia are coming into their own.  I enjoy listening to investor gurus such as Jim Rogers discuss his reasoning behind why he moved himself and his family from New York to Singapore in 2007 and how it was the best decision he ever made.  I mean, as I am quite comfy sitting here and trading and enjoying an American life, aren’t my hard-earned pips in my USD account slowly losing value against most other major currencies?   Yes.  But the thought of moving to China or Brazil or Russia gives me a little shiver of uncertainty.  This week we learned just how strong Australia is, being the first of the major Central Banks to emerge from interest rate holding and actually RAISE their rates .25% to 3.25%.  Their Aussie dollar jumped in correspondence to this surprise move, ending the week above 0.9000.  I suspect the AUD may again reach for parity with the USD soon and even overtake the not-so-mighty dollar.  This would alas not be new territory, the AUD was stronger than the dollar in the 1980s.  Australia also posted an improving jobless rate to 5.7%, compared to the US’s continuing worsening in unemployment, now at 9.8%.  Times are turning quicker down under.  What, not too interested in shrimps on the barby?  How about Canada.  Canada, too, posted its second consecutive month of  improving employment data this week adding 31,000 jobs in September, bringing its unemployment down to 8.7%.  They have yet to raise their interest rates but I suspect that they will quicker than the US does.  What do these two nations have in common?  Both the AUD and the CAN dollars are commodity currencies:  Australia is closely tied to gold while Canada is tied to oil.  While commodities like these will only continue to rise in value, it is the main reason why countries that export these products will continue to grow.  Unfortunately, the US is the consumer, not the producer, and thus will likely remain in a weakening state.  Oh how fun fundamental analysis is!  Some US traders are moving their savings to Canada in order to take advantage of a stronger currency.  Australia is a good bet too.  It is not too late.  Even better:  you do not have to move to take advantage of the weakening US dollar.  Check out Everbank, you can open a savings account in several emerging market currencies without hassle or airline tickets.