Global Outlook

Country Indexes

Contributed by eResearch

The chart below shows the weekly closes of the major bourses since the beginning of 2012, almost a 15-month period. All of the indexes were set to 1.00 as of the close of December 31, 2011.

The big winner, as shown in the chart, is the Toyko Nikkei 225, which is up 48%. In the last three weeks alone, the Nikkei has risen 8%. Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax is second best, with a gain of 36%. The Nasdaq is next, followed by the S&P 500.

The big loser s hown in th e chart is th e TSX Ve nture Excha nge which , given its weighting of resource companies, is not surprising. It is the only index to be in negative territory.

The Shanghai Composite is the second-worst performer, followed by the Toronto S&P/TSX, the London FTSE 100, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

It is a different story for 2013.

The winner is still the Ni kkei, but t he DJIA co mes in sec ond, follow ed by the S&P 500 and the London FTSE 100 with a dead-heat. The Nasdaq is next.

The TSX Venture Exchange, with its heavy emphasis on junior mining exploration companies and other junior companies, continues to perform badly. The Hong Kong Hang Seng is the second worst performer so far this year. Only these two indexes are below where they started the year.