Courtesy of Doug Short
This past week saw a rather amazing split across major world markets. The DAX and Shanghai Composite were at the opposite ends of a widely divergent range of performance. The DAX and S&P 500 set new interim highs and were joined in positive territory by the Nikkei 225 and FTSE 100. In contrast, the Hang Seng, BSE SENSEX and Shanghai experienced major selloffs. In fact, the Shanghai, which also finished in last place a week ago, had its worst week since early November of 2010.
The chart below illustrates the comparative performance of World Markets since March 9, 2009. The start date is arbitrary: The S&P 500 and BSE SENSEX hit their lows on March 9th, the Nikkei 225 on March 10th, the DAX on March 6th, the FTSE on March 3rd, the Shanghai Composite on November 4, 2008, and the Hang Seng even earlier on October 27, 2008. However, by aligning on the same day and measuring the percent change, we get a better sense of the relative performance than if we align the lows.
A Longer Look Back
Here is the same chart starting from the turn of 21st century. The relative over-performance of the emerging markets (Shanghai, Mumbai, Hang Seng) is readily apparent.
