Fascinating stuff: Of all the lousy bourses, the SPX (White line below) is the least lousiest!
>
click for bigger chart 
>
Here’s an excerpt:
"U.S. stocks pulled ahead of Brazil, Russia, India and China this week for the first time in 2008, spurred by the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cut borrowing costs even as the biggest developing countries are raising theirs.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows the S&P 500’s 12 percent loss this year leaves it ahead of Brazil’s Bovespa Index, whose drop through last week had been the smallest of the five countries. The U.S. equity benchmark claimed the lead after banks rallied 22 percent and the steepest monthly retreat in commodity prices sent the Bovespa into a bear market.
The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index dropped 25 percent in 2008 through yesterday, China’s CSI 300 Index decreased 54 percent and Russia’s benchmark RTS Index fell 21 percent. Brazil’s Bovespa has lost 15 percent this year."
>
Hat tip Paul K!
>
Source:
Money on the Move’ to U.S. Stocks: Chart of the Day
Eric Martin
Bloomberg, Aug. 13 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=apfY_7gDF74o
-12% never felt so good!
it’s the dollar. money flow redistributing to the US. probably what is fueling the equity rally. see the collapse in the Euro and the Yen’s move upside. Seems like the Dollar and Yen are partners in crime.
Does this mean the USA is an “Emerging Market” now?
the funny thing is that in India, interest rates has been raised almost 1 percent in the past 2-3 months, and the market has gone up.
inflation is high, but you can get 10% from a government bank CD, hence i attribute most of the action in Bombay stock exchange to Foreign money inflow/Outflow…..
at one point during march-may, foreign money had started fleeing india but looks like they like the indian government measures to control inflation hence inflow has increased again.
there is a ton of money in the world which needs to go somewhere looking for action….and thats what is keeping these markets from bottoming to a safe level where even warren buffet will borrow to buy them.
Looks like they’re moving in tandem. So much for “decoupling”. Even BRIC foreign policy is “recoupling”: US -> Iraq == USSR -> Georgia!
what goes up must come down. from 03-07 the SPX (or US in general) was weaker and places like china screamed higher. it makes sense then that those that screamed higher would now decline faster.
take the 2000 peak in the US. Nasdaq went up the most, and down the most (relative to things like $SPX, $DJI)
its just how markets work.
“…retreat in commodity prices sent the Bovespa into a bear market.”
That and the intervention of government in the economy… for example, they want to strip the new oil findings from Petrobras (PBR) into a new state controlled company.
There also a bit of unrest among large productive farms, with government officials claiming it belongs to the indian natives and talking about canceling land titles.
All this makes forward investment a cautious exercise in a country that depends mostly on producing/exporting commodities.
And last but not least, widespread, large corruption scandals in many branches of government. There is also a ‘grassroots’ discontentment among military officials concerning Executive actions outside of the Constitutional boundaries. It is unlikely to escalate too far but something to keep an eye on.
But when the market rebounds, the US market will also be expected to lag.
More evidence that our markets are some of the least free and most manipulated in the world.
The current levels have only been achieved essentially by having the U.S. Taxpayer guarantee the profits of those who have made the worst investments.
Best horse in the glue factory.
Thanks to the PPT!
But…but…but I thought all the growth in those countries outside the U.S. was going to fuel the inexhaustible demand for oil and other commodities. You know, this “de-coupling” BS sounds an awful lot like a 2008 version of “In the New Economy, it’s eyeballs that count, not profits…” And we all know how that fairy tale ended.
Mike hit it out of the park.
Gotta agree — The ownership society has been exposed as a fraud. Crony capitalism is the legacy of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. I’ll also accept “voodoo economics”…
Wow! People really don’t hit on how the other international markets are performing enough these days. It’s all centered on how horrible everything is here. This is an awesome post (loved the graph) that really puts it all into perspective.
I would have never guessed we were outperforming all four!?