Today's Financial Times reports about what will probably be the ultimate digital virtual currency, and it ain't bitcoin. It is a mobile-phone text-based payments system invented in sub-Saharan Africa called M-Pesa.

Wrapping up the first quarter let’s go to the scorecard. The Dow Industrials lost 121 points in the quarter but gained 136 points in the month of March; the S&P 500 finished the quarter up 24 points and up 13 points in March;

Today's publication of two contrasting purchasing managers' indexes (PMIs) may mark a major market shift. On the one hand, the HSBC March 'flash' survey of Chinese manufacturing outlook came up with a prediction of further decline.

To pay for the overnight Hong Kong incorporated Chinese oilfield services company, in which Schlumberger Ltd owns 20%, I halved my holdings in Yandex, the Black Sea internet services provider, and in Singapore-based Indian REIT Ascendas India Trust. Plus more from Africa, Britain, Cuba, Finland, The Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Canada, and Israel.

Meanwhile stocks around the world are down. Gold and the dollar are up. This creates opportunities and risks for the global investing community discussed below, along with trading alerts.