And I don’t mean market bulls, either.

It’s been a rough couple days in Johannesburg, starting with my delayed flights that caused me to miss my Zurich Club chapter meeting put on by MoneyWeek SA. I was also supposed to have a round-table lunch engagement with the editors of MoneyWeek SA on Friday, but as it turns out, Friday was a school holiday and many of the editors had to leave early.

Something that should have been known before hand, I’m sure, but done is done.

And to top it all off, my rather rude “cab” ride to the airport got his bumber whacked as we were exiting. He said a few choice words and ran across several lanes of traffic to yell at the guys who hit him. It wasn’t bad, but it was his car, and the back taillight was damaged.

Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to get out of Jo’burg.

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Let me begin with an amusing image: me, age 11, on a purple skateboard…

And then me, sprawled out on the pavement, thankful my mom forced me to wear a helmet.

I was never very good at skateboarding. My younger brother was, and he always used to show me up. But I always loved watching him do tricks, like ollies and kickflips… 360s off the loading platform behind the school cafeteria.

So I’ve got a bit of a softspot for this sport. Which is why I wanted to share this little article with you from the International Herald Tribune. A skateboarding school is waiting final approval in Kabul, Afghanistan.

It’s an unlikely place for a skateboarding school, but the kids can’t seem to get enough of it.

The idea began as an after-school program, and its main goal is to help bring a bit of normalcy into these kids’ lives. Even girls are allowed to join in the fun, and this one quote, from Maro, a 9-year old girl, really hits home:

“It gives me courage, and once I start skating, I completely forget about my fears.”

And that’s reason enough.

It’s been announced that Israel is in the process of accepting terms for a truce, and has called a halt to its Gaza operations.

Surprisingly, perhaps, the Tel Aviv stock exchange has had its first down day in seven days. Does this mean that the TASE likes war? Come on! Look at what’s going on in the rest of the world:

Germany: down 1.77%
France: down 1.48%
London: down 2.83%
DJIA: down 2.75% (as I write)

And other markets in Latin America are really slumping today.

What does this mean? It means that war, or lack thereof, is not affecting Israel’s stock market. In other words, “It’s the economy, stupid!”

Big job losses here in the States sent markets spinning today, and not just here in the U.S. This news sent oil dropping, which affected a number of exporting markets, like Norway and Nigeria. It sent metals, both base and precious dropping, too (the exception being platinium), which is a bit unusual. That affects producing countries like Chile and Peru.

It means that investors are going to have to look long and hard at the countries and companies they want to invest in, not just play the news and major events.

Last week I told you how Israel’s market, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was seemingly immune to rockets. Even a reporter for the Haaretz Daily Newspaper, Hagai Amit, wrote, “The bottom line, the stock market is used to rockets.”

I also told you that Israel’s TASE was more likely to be influenced by the global economic crisis than the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Turns out, I was right (so far).

In Taipan Insider, an exclusive report for all members of Taipan Publishing Group’s services, I gave an in-depth report about Israel’s performance through these crises. I said:

Last Monday, the TASE-100 rebounded as high as 550.88.
This Monday, the TASE-100 hit a high of 600.95.

In short, Israel’s TASE is following other major world indices and seemingly putting in a bottom. In spite of this ongoing conflict.

Again, Arab markets in the region are mixed, with the UAE market up nearly 6% and Qatar’s market down nearly 4%.

To me, this “proves” that the conflict is not the major factor in the region right now. The global economy is the big player.

And today, we’ve seen the TASE-100 climb even higher, popping up to 618.24, a rise of 4.5%.

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