Developed Countries Getting Hit Hard

by Bespoke Investment Group

Equity markets across the country have gotten hit pretty hard since February 18th (when the S&P 500 made its bull market high).  Below we highlight the performance of major equity indices for 79 countries since 2/18 as well as year to date.  The average year to date stock market performance of the 79 countries listed has now turned negative (-2.20%).  The average performance of the countries since 2/18 is -4.38%.  As shown, Japan is down the most since 2/18 with a decline of 16.13%.  Germany and France rank 2nd and 3rd worst with declines of 12.29% and 11.08% respectively. 

In the table we have outlined the G7 countries and shaded the four BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries in light blue.  Earlier in the year, the BRICs were significantly underperforming while the G7 developed nations were outperforming.  Since 2/18, however, the opposite has been the case.  All of the G7 countries are down at least 4% since then, while 3 of the 4 BRIC countries are actually up! 

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