In case there are any doubts, I invest in the same stock markets as anyone else does and my pocketbook has been bashed for the past week and now is emerging from its collapse. Every speculator, day-trader, or hedgie was selling short the euro and National Bank of Greece and using other portfolio assets to fund this. Today every short seller having shorted, the balance in the Trojan War shifted slightly the other way.Rare indeed is the fund manager or investor who can dodge this kind of selloff. Not claiming to be a market timer or a clairvoyant, I tend to be skeptical of those who do make such claims.Having advised the Greek govt. Joe Stiglitz came up with some words of comfort for our own, according to Bloomberg, calling the prospect of a U.S. or British default "absurd." The Nobel laureate economist said both countries "deserve to keep their AAA rating" adding "the likelihood of a default is small in the US because all we do is print money to pay it back." He called the panic over US default "another reflection of the absurdities in the financial markets."Speaking at the London School of Economics, Joe said "what we need now is a second round of stimulus" aimed at homeowners. Without it "the heavy level of indebtedness is going to press down on the economy."Which is to say the lesson of the Asia contagion IMF medicine -- that budget cuts and deflation exacerbate the problems ? now apply to the USA.Introduced by a reader, your editor attempted to open a brokerage account with Charles Stanley Co., U.K. brokers. Here's what they wrote:Thank you for your e-mail. I regret that we are unable to offer our services to anyone living in the US due to regulatory and legal complexities. In essence, the US requires any UK brokers offering services to US taxpayers and residents to comply with US tax and securities regulations. This is something we would be unable to do and therefore we would be unable to open an account for anyone living in the USA.Another reader, a Canadian, reports access was blocked to his TD Waterhouse account when he was visiting south of the border. The account is domiciled in Luxembourg and TD blocked access from US-based internet service providers.More and more, USAN investors have to confine our investing to US-tradable stocks, bonds, and funds. While their number is growing, it is still annoying to be left out of deals. I was tempted by Charles Stanley's Croesus analyst newsletter's recommended play on the planned split Mar. 22 between Cable & Wireless plc in Britain and its tempting international holdings (between the future London-listed CWS and CWW.)There is a history here. Cable & Wireless delisted from the NYSE voluntarily on Dec. 13, 2005 and cancelled its American Depositary Receipts program after becoming the butt of securities litigation and class action suits from US and Canadian investors for years. The lead case was settled out of court in mid-2004 by Cable & Wireless paying over $7 mn with no admission of guilt to the plaintiffs, Ontario Teachers? Pension Plan et al. Having sold Ternium last year after its Venezuelan steel mills were nationalized, we are not surprised that compensation payments have been delayed, and Caracas now owes the Argentinian company (incorporated in Luxembourg, however) about $1.02 bn. TS will not win support from La Presidente Fernandez who needs political and financial support from Hugo Chavez.More for paid subscribers follows mostly about Singapore to start with.*We are investing in offshore oil drilling in Vietnam thanks to a new joint venture by X of Singapore. It is a minor part of the business but is enough to satisfy my urge to get into ?Nam.*Bonus stock Cognizant Tech (which is owned by Indians and operates in IT there) beat forecasts with a 28% rise in Q4 earnings on revenues up 20%. This is my favorite Indian outsourced consulting and IT company even though it is HQ?d in NJ. Sales topped $902.7 mn in the quarter and eps in GAAP terms came to 47¢/sh vs prior year 38, nipped by a 1¢/sh forex loss. CTSH predicts that this year it will achieve sales of $3.9 bn vs last year's fullyear $2.03 bn.

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