Vivian’s planned Portuguese paperwork procedures took less time than anticipated so you are getting a blog after all on Weds.
First a message from the anti-Vivian, Leila Heckman. Vivian does bottom up and Heckman is the pioneer of top down country allocation research and an expert in quantitative analysis, macro economics, stock selection, and portfolio optimization with expertise in developed, emerging and frontier markets. She asks:

Over the past month, investments in Europe have increased 7-8%. Have investors’ worries about investing in the European market and contagion dissipated, or have they just quieted for the moment? Is Europe poised to bounce back? According to Heckman, now Senior Director of Mesirow Financial, people are quick to forget crises, including those in the financial markets. She thinks while Europe’s bailout will likely take place over an extended period of time, there are several positive market drivers indicating that there are good investment opportunities now.