Five of eight indexes on my world market watch list posted weekly gains, up from two the previous week. The average of the eight was only 0.33%. The S&P 500 was the weekly winner, up 3.03%, but not quite enough to lift it into the green for the year. China's Shanghai Composite finished at the bottom for the third straight week and posting -4.2% losses for the last two.
Here is a overlay of the eight for a sense of their comparative performance so far in 2015.
Above is a table of the 2015 data performance, sorted from high to low, along with the interim highs for the eight indexes. Five of the eight indexes are in the green, with the two Eurozone indexes up dramatically. The Hang Seng, BSE SENSEX and FTSE 100 are in a near dead heat for third place, with less than half the gains of their Eurozone peers. The three-week selloff in the Shanghai Composite puts it dead last, down 4.91%.
A Closer Look at the Last Four Weeks
The tables below provide a concise overview of performance comparisons over the past four weeks (through year's end) for these eight major indexes. I've also included the average for each week so that we can evaluate the performance of a specific index relative to the overall mean and better understand weekly volatility. The colors for each index name help us visualize the comparative performance over time.
The chart below illustrates the comparative performance of World Markets since March 9, 2009. The start date is arbitrary: The S&P 500, CAC 40 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 SENSEX and Hang Seng) up to their 2007 peaks is evident, and the SENSEX remains by far the top performer. The Shanghai, in contrast, formed a perfect Eiffel Tower from late 2006 to late 2009.
Check back next week for a new update.
Note from dshort: I track Germany's DAXK a price-only index, instead of the more familiar DAX index (which includes dividends), for consistency with the other indexes, which do not include dividends.
All the indexes are calculated in their local currencies.