From a Western financial professional’s perspective, South Korea has traditionally been overlooked. The most familiar big three finance hubs in the East were forged in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. However, Korea is redefining itself as a major marketplace for a specific breed of financial product, broadly labeled as “derivatives”. Here we’ll give a crash course on derivatives and their place in financial markets, inspect their recent appearance in emerging markets, and theorize as to the effect they will have on Korea’s global financial presence and the economy as a whole.

It’s becoming clearer by day that there is little sanity left in the realm that had once been hailed a “free market”. Traders suck up the “good news” of more QE from the Federal Reserve in the U.S., like a junky celebrating one more smack filled syringe he hopes will be soon smuggled in by his big brother. How much longer can the lunacy persist?

Korea’s borders surround just under one-hundred-thousand square kilometers, making the land mass a bit larger than the U.S. state of Indiana, with a population of approximately 48,000,000; over seven times that of Indiana. It’s safe to say that the result of these basic observations has for years been a high demand for real estate in Korea. This week we’ll discuss the state of the South Korea real estate market by investigating the Korean “Jeonse” (key money) lease process, and look for answers to the looming supply of unfilled apartment skyscrapers in years to come

urprising the world now twice in six months by leading rather than following the G20 nations, South Korea has spearheaded dual mandates which have put the central Bank of Korea (BOK) on the offensive. Clearly Korea hasn’t forgotten the woes of 1998 and 2008, when the KRW dropped precipitously and twice scarred the investment portfolios of international players. It is now certain that currency protection is the name of the game in Seoul. This week we’ll identify how Korea’s monetary policy stacks up against its rival “Asian tigers”, and determine where Korea may find itself tomorrow as a result of today’s environment.

First, I like the title a lot, “ignorance is liberal bliss”… It’s definitely witty. I know that you might expect for me to have taken a clear stance defending Barry, but I promise you I am very critical of Obama, Tiny Tim, and Benny Boy on a regular basis in my analysis of the U.S. economy. However, I also don’t fit into the camp that lambastes liberals for their ignorant or economically unintelligent platforms.

As founder and editor of Diamond Slice I’m proud to announce that The Weekly Spectrum is going to be more “focused”. It’s obvious that you can get a weekly outlook anywhere on the net, so the one you’ll find here is about to become a bit, well, edgy. There’s enough “fair and balanced” out there to kill us all of boredom, I believe that we at DS can give you something much better, something much smarter, and something you can actually profit from. So without any further ado, I give you “The Weekly Spectrum” 2.0…

June 17, 2010 – Stock markets around the world have found solace in the leaked, then officially released, China Export data; showing a 48.5% increase in exports in May from comparable data in 2009. Conveniently timed with the past week’s global equity rally that followed the China Export numbers, were several announcements from South Korean financial leaders. First, Korea announced new measures to tighten restrictions on Currency Futures trading, and then proposed an indefinite re-opening of the currency swap lines between the Bank of Korea and The U.S. Fed, which were closed in February 2010…

In the week ahead the U.S. equity market, broadly represented by the S&P 500 index, will be looking for direction as the level reaches its 200 day moving average (MA), which had served as firm support before dropping below that level on May 22, 2010 for the first time since mid July 2009. By our analysis, markets are now undergoing a sentiment shift, in turn morphing the 200 day MA into a resistance; twice tested but not yet broken since crossing below on May 22.

The Washington D.C. summit in 2008 crowned the Group of Twenty Nations (G20) as the official global economic summit of industrialized countries. Two years in, Korea is proud to have been chosen to Chair the 2010 G20 summit, which was kicked off in Busan last week for a meeting of the group’s finance ministers. Hosting the G20 certainly represents a milestone on Korea’s global economic ascent; however, the communiqué out of Busan begs a dissimilar fate for the unification of the group…

Consider this the first and last time we plan on bringing up the Oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. We don’t agree that 2018 futures should be trading at a $20 premium to near term WTI spots, and we think the trend of Crude Oil will ultimately continue lower, so we haven’t given this story much attention. That said, the ramifications on unemployment and the general economy of the U.S. Gulf Coast are becoming tangible and necessary for all to understand. Take 3 1/2 minutes of your day and listen to those affected by the disaster in their “own words”, in this Bloomberg Video Report…