Comments on: S&P500: Better than BRICs!

By: Bullish Bankers

Bullish Bankers — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:09:45 +0000

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!?

By: Daniel Secrest

Daniel Secrest — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:41:17 +0000

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”…

By: me

me — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:16:07 +0000

Mike hit it out of the park.

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:56:32 +0000

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.

By: PhatMary

PhatMary — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:34:38 +0000

Thanks to the PPT!

By: johnnyvee

johnnyvee — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:19:15 +0000

Best horse in the glue factory.

By: Mike in NOLa

Mike in NOLa — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:06:44 +0000

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.

By: aa

aa — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:30:44 +0000

But when the market rebounds, the US market will also be expected to lag.

By: mhm

mhm — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:24:17 +0000

“…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.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:14:43 +0000

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.