“While the dollar may not see a significant correction soon, and is likely to continue to gain against the euro as the euro zone crisis persists, the negative effects of a stronger dollar on gold are likely to be largely diminished in 2012, allowing the bullish macro drivers to dictate price action once again,” said Societe Generale.

U.S. gold retailer companies like APMEX saw gold increase by 0.8% to $1,644.60 an ounce in January. Though the rate receded slightly, it is undoubtedly setting up for another round of gains. Reuters’ market analyst Wang Tao suggested that spot gold may peak at $1,650.

“This Made-for-China phenomenon is just one of the many sub-trends spawned by the macro trend of economic and consumption power shifting toward emerging markets,” a report from Trendwatching.com said.

Lu Haiqing of Tesco China called China the “last untapped market on Earth.” He added that “any wise and rational enterprise will have no choice but to come to China, no matter if they like it or not.”

Tesco endeavored into the Chinese market in 2004, and has since opened more than one hundred outlets. “More than 4 million Chinese consumers shop at Tesco China every week and the trend of trade-up is obvious,” Lu said.

Still, despite the positive sides to the market, cashing is a real difficulty.

“The Chinese market is vast and unique. It’s so special that merely dumping an existing management scheme, which succeeds elsewhere, is doomed to fail here,’ Lu said.

“Emerging markets have been the focus of plenty of attention in the past few years; however, for a host of reasons investing in them has been a hit-and-miss affair,” explained QIC Quantitative Management managing director Michiel Swaak. “But more recently the situation has changed. Better, more consistent accounting standards mean the quality of data coming out of Asian markets has improved dramatically, providing the raw material required to establish meaningful models and identify opportunities that are most likely to deliver consistent alpha for investors.”

QIC first launched its quantitative Asia Pacific Market Neutral Fund in the summer of 2009, which has since proved especially lucrative.

 “We firmly believe that quant players have the jump on the market for a number of reasons. In our case, in addition to our extensive research and analysis capability, our team has many years of dedicated Asian experience,” Swaak said. “We’ve used that to develop a systematic trading process, which captures the relevant data as the markets continue to evolve, then feeds it into our flexible portfolio management infrastructure.”

QIC’s report states that the fund applies “comprehensive risk controls to all aspects of the portfolio, including net, gross, country, single-stock, currency, beta and risk factor exposures” in order to reach market neutrality.

“We believe our approach forms the blueprint for successful alpha investing in Asia, and we’re pleased to be able to offer an Australian dollar-denominated investment to Australian clients while we still retain the first-mover advantage,” Swaak said.

“I think it is also clear that in India, as in other economies, demand for exports would certainly be hit, and certainly for India, we’ve already seen effects on private investment,” said IMF Director of the Asia-Pacific Department Anoop Singh. “My sense so far is that the financial effects on Asia are being contained. We are seeing Asian banks, including Indian banks, stepping in where deleveraging is taking place from European banks.”

Singh continued, explaining that like the rest of Asia, India is focused on attracting private investment. However, this needs additional infrastructure investment in order to raise potential growth.

“So in India, what is planned, for example, is to introduce certain fiscal reforms that would give more space for higher infrastructure investment in India, among other factors,” Singh explained.

According to Masahiko Takeda, also of the IMF, “Reducing the fiscal deficit will create room for private investment to grow.”

He added: “But even more important are all sorts of fiscal reform measures that the Indian government can take to improve investment and business conditions in India, so that the private sector has a bigger incentive to increase their investment. And this has been the major emphasis we have put in our recent mission in India.”

“I think it is also clear that in India, as in other economies, demand for exports would certainly be hit, and certainly for India, we’ve already seen effects on private investment,” said IMF Director of the Asia-Pacific Department Anoop Singh. “My sense so far is that the financial effects on Asia are being contained. We are seeing Asian banks, including Indian banks, stepping in where deleveraging is taking place from European banks.”

Singh continued, explaining that like the rest of Asia, India is focused on attracting private investment. However, this needs additional infrastructure investment in order to raise potential growth.

“So in India, what is planned, for example, is to introduce certain fiscal reforms that would give more space for higher infrastructure investment in India, among other factors,” Singh explained.

According to Masahiko Takeda, also of the IMF, “Reducing the fiscal deficit will create room for private investment to grow.”

He added: “But even more important are all sorts of fiscal reform measures that the Indian government can take to improve investment and business conditions in India, so that the private sector has a bigger incentive to increase their investment. And this has been the major emphasis we have put in our recent mission in India.”

In fact, Shanghai Pengxin Group, a Chinese company, recently received permission to acquire sixteen dairy farms in New Zealand in one of the largest transactions ever sealed by the two countries.

When interviewed by the Wall Street Journal during a visit in Australia, Key said: “We are starting to see quite an increase in interest from Asia, particularly as they look at New Zealand and see the potential in the mining and exploration centers, we’ve seen significant interest there, and obviously in the agriculture sector where we have a pre-eminent position.”

Key added that it is the New Zealnd-based assets that so attract China at this time. Some dealings have caused minor tension in the region, however.

“They like the New Zealand story. They are a country that is significantly worried about food security. Not only do they want to buy food, but they are increasingly starting to buy products on the basis of health benefits.” Key continued, stating that “Where we see more sensitivity is around the purchase of real assets in New Zealand.”

China is currently New Zealand’s second-largest market, following close behind the neighboring Australia.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s International Capital Group’s Alistair Meadows said “During 2011 we have seen Asian investment into London more than double. What has been evident is the emergence of ‘new’ sources of Asian capital attracted to London ranging from pension funds like EPF & PNB from Malaysia to Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) investors like Khoon Hong Kuok and Martua Sitorus who acquired ‘Aviva Tower’ in the City of London for 288 million euro, advised by LaSalle.

“Asian buyers were especially dominant in the City of London office market, accounting for 23 percent of annual investment volumes. Indeed, of the 3.5 billion euro traded in the City office market last year is many sizes over 100 million euro. 40% was undertaken by Asian buyers. We predict seeing a diverse range of Asian investors being very active in London in 2012 and likely to account for over 20 percent of investment volumes by year end.”

Andrew Hawkin, also from LaSalle, added: “Over the next 12 months Asian money will also continue to target the City for higher income returns, and the West Ed for long-term wealth preservation, reinforcing London’s perception as a safe haven. Already in 2012 Malaysian capital is rumored to have placed the majority of a major German portfolio under offer in the City. London’s transparency, relatively long leases and high yield spread above the risk free rate, continues to be attractive to Asian Capital seeking to diversify away from their home markets.” He noted that the trend is likely to be long-lasting.

“The importance of trade finance to the global economy is better understodd now than in 2008,” explained Mark Williams of Capital Economics. “One of the factors that contributed to the recovery in 2009 was the $250 billion of trade-finance guarantees announced… In the event of a second global financial crisis, future guarantees are likely to be forthcoming.”

Often compared to the oil that greases a machine, trade finance is a key component in an economy. EU banks’ exposure to it in Asia is surprisingly high, relative to their loans in the region. Williams pointed out, however, that the Bank of International Settlements revealed that Eurozone banks are responsible for a mere 2.3% of total credit in the emerging Asia. Meanwhile, they have a 47.3% share of lending in emerging Europe, and 17.1% in Latin America.

The recent developments in trade finance have encouraged banks to increase interest rates.

“The reality is spreads have gone up fairly significantly- almost to the 2008 peak levels- over the last six weeks… But the higher spreads are here to stay,” said Ravi Saxena of Citibank.

The American market’s growth slowed, growing only 4% despite Burberry’s streamlined operation, but the line saw gains of 36% and 20% in Asia and Europe. Paris and Sao Paulo are some of the company’s strongest bases, and Brazil is growing in importance as well.

Chief financial officer Stacey Cartwright said “We are very pleased. We think it was a strong performance during a key period. Softer markets were southern Europe and Korea. We are now up against very strong competition and the comparables are growing more difficult to beat each period but we are pleased with the performance.”

UBS analysts have explained the struggling growth in the U.S. market: “The low number was due to planned rationalizations of wholesale channels, and comparable mainline store sales growth was in the high single digits, with good growth momentum at key department store partners.”

Half of the fashion line’s global growth was triggered by sales of coats and leather bags. Other key products include knitwear, men’s accessories and aftershave.

The positive sales figures imply that Burberry’s strategy to avoid financial crises has been successful thus far. The company is focusing on flagship markets in cities like Paris, and plans to build its largest store on Regent Street before the Olympics as well.

CEO Angela Ahrendts said “Looking ahead, we remain focused on executing our proven core strategies to achieve long-term sustainable growth, while staying mindful of the challenging macro environment.”

“The downgrade set a nervous for this week’s markets as we approach more significant hurdles in the evolution of the Eurozone crisis,” said Ric Spooner of CMC Markets.

Asian stocks have slipped as a result of the ratings. MSCI’s index of Asia Pacific shares, excluding Japan, fell 0.3% after reaching a one-month high last week, while Japan’s Nikkei slid down to 1.51%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.01%, the Shanghai Composite 0.75%, and Korea’s Kospi dropped 1%.

Markets across the globe are bracing themselves as negotiations regarding the Greek and Eurozone debt remain relatively stagnant despite several efforts to get them moving.

“Failure of these negotiations remains a significant contagion risk,” Spooner explained.

At the moment, experts have projected an 8.7% growth in China’s economy for 2012. This growth will have a significant impact on the region, and will ease numerous financial pressures. If GDP does not, in fact, meet expectations, it may result in export-led downturns that China will be unable to resolve.