2008 Country Returns

Below we provide 2008 performance numbers for the major equity indices of 84 countries.  As shown, 32 of the 84 countries were down more than 50% in 2008, while just three countries finished in the green -- Ghana, Tunisia, and Ecuador.  Iceland was down by far the most, losing nearly all of its value at with a decline of 94.43%.  Of the G-7 countries, the UK did the best with a loss of 31.33%, followed by Canada (-35%), and the US (-38.5%).  With a decline of 48.4%, Italy was the weakest of the G-7 countries.  At the start of 2008, the decoupling trade was all the rage, as emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) were supposed to hang in there much better due to continued growth prospects.  When all was said and done though, of the BRIC countries, only Brazil did better than any of the G-7 countries, while India, China, and Russia were all down more than 50%.

 

Comments

[Paul]

Are these returns on US$, or in the country's native currency? In other words if their currency beat ours by 10% does that make the results seem 10% (higher/lower?) than if I were a resident of that country investing in my own market?

[dj]

Canada would be doing alot better if a "coalition" didn't try to over throw the standing gov.(undervalued about 1k at yr end)but this should be all settled by jan.28th