By Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance at Thomson Reuters

The time has arrived to take a deeper dive on better understanding of Shariah compliant companies in an Islamic (or Shariah compliant) equity indexes. To many informed and uninformed observers of Islamic equity investing, it seems to imply investing in publicly listed companies in Muslim countries.

The end results contradict the assumptions. This also rebuts the often heard allegations by many from the anti-Shariah movement that Islamic investing is about investing in companies linked to terrorism or financing terrorism. The largest companies in the S&P Global BMI Shariah include ExxonMobil, IBM, Chevron, Nestle, Microsoft, etc.
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The strength of gold is rising in 2012. With sites like the U.S. Money Reserve, purchasing gold bullion coins and bars is becoming ever more popular for investors to add to their portfolio.

For the week, spot gold closed at $1,788.68, up $34.03 per ounce, or 1.94 percent. Gold stocks, as measured by the NYSE Arca Golds BUGS Index, rose 1.57 percent. The U.S. Trade-Weighted Dollar Index was essentially flat, with a slide of just 0.02 percent for the week, says Frank Holmes, CEO and Chief Investment Officer, U.S. Global Investor
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The next bubble may be forming in developed sovereign debt

The October 2011 edition of Barclays Wealth Compass, entitled “Perspectives on Markets: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” reflects upon the past two decades of market volatility with an eye toward understanding and positioning for the future. The firm’s chief investment officer and heads of regional Investment Strategy, Behavioural Finance and Quantitative Analytics answer five key questions in the special edition.
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The EU and the US economies are not the only headaches for Middle East economies. China’s faltering economy could also hurt the region’s growth prospects.

As the advanced economies were contracting and falling behind earlier in the year, the Gulf and the wider MENA states were hoping Chinese and wider Asian demand to ensure their oil production finding eager buyers. READ MORE HERE
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With Japan shaken by the quake and China looking at hard landing, the Gulf’s two largest partners are going through a tumultuous period, which could impact their trade flows with the GCC. Read More

Worried about ‘peak oil’? How about ‘peak everything’? A GMO analyst crunches the numbers to show why the structural shifts in the world’s consumption patterns will alter the way we view and invest in commodities.

The world is using up its natural resources at an alarming rate, and this has caused a permanent shift in their value and we all need to adjust our behaviour to this new environment. It would help if we did it quickly, says Jeremy Grantham, co-founder of GMO, a global investment firm managing $107-billion in client assets.
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Oil prices will rise 36% in 2011, denting global economic recovery, warns the IMF. But that also means Saudi’s GDP will rise 7.5% - one of the highest among G20 nations. Read More Here

Reading McKinsey’s Urban World: Mapping The Power Of Cities convinces us that the world will belong to China by 2025 - we will just be living in it. Forget the Middle East and its oil wealth, or Latin America with its flair, charm and commodity-fuelled brilliance, or even India with its bursting economic ingenuity and labour power - China will dominate the proceedings. Read More Here

HSBC’s energy outlook for 2050 forecasts that we may have as little as 49 years of oil left and we will have to radically alter our energy consuming ways to avoid a massive energy crunch. Read More

As Japan’s nuclear meltdown puts the brakes on yet another power source, the world is looking at ME energy to fill the gap. Luckily, there is plenty coming on line, despite the region’s shot-term problems. Read More