On Friday, Ford Motor Co is poised to report its biggest annual profit in 13 years after an accounting change that signals the No. 2 U.S. automaker’s belief it can remain profitable.

The company will post a one-time gain of about $13 billion after it eliminates a tax reserve created in late 2006. This will push net income of the company to more than $20 billion, its best annual profit since 1998, when it earned more than $22 billion during the SUV boom.

“The quarter will shed light on the sustainability of, or potential for improvement in, North America automotive pretax profits,” Barclays Capital analyst Brian Johnson said in a research note.

According to a survey, Asian investors are betting on equities as the most preferred hedge against inflation followed by gold in attempt to fight inflationary pressures.

The survey by investment bank Barclays Capital revealed that equities followed by gold are the most sought after hedge against inflationary pressures.

From in.finance.yahoo.com:

Equities continue to be the most recommended asset by wealth managers for the next six months to produce a global balanced-risk investor portfolio, it added.

This year investors are being advised to hold an average of 37 per cent of their portfolio in global equities a marginal decline from 42 per cent a year ago, the report said.

US equities are more favoured today, with an average allocation of 10 per cent, up from 5 per cent three years ago.

Moreover, 65 per cent of respondents said they are likely to raise this allocation over the next six months.

However, advisors are recommending a reduced allocation in equities in Latin America, the Middle-East, Eastern Europe and Africa compared to a year ago. The recommended asset allocation for these regions has fallen from an average of nine per cent to just five per cent, the report said.

A large majority of respondents expect revenues to grow by more than five per cent in Asia, excluding Japan, over the next two years, wherein the most attractive countries for business expansion in the region would be China and India.

Barclays Capital Head of Distribution for Asia Pacific Philippe El-Asmar said, “We continue to see a positive attitude among investors for Asia’s emerging markets. It’s no surprise that China and India appear as the top picks for growth with the outlook for these economies remaining upbeat.”