Summary As mentioned in last month’s commentary, markets were overextended after the prolonged rally in the past few months, so the correction in June was overdue.  It is poignant to…

May started off with a bang, with several developed market indices such as the S&P 500 in the US and the FTSE 100 in the UK reaching all-time highs while…

March was rocky with a poor resolution of Cyprus’s debt problems, an inconclusive parliamentary election in Italy, and poor economic data from China, which all weighed on markets. April saw…

The significant rise in world equity markets since the latter half of last year continued into the first half of March but petered out in the second half, with the MSCI World index up 2.1% for the month after being flat for February and up 5% in January.  It should be noted that much of the March gain was due to strong performance in Japan and the US, as well as smaller contributions from the three largest European markets (Germany, UK, and France).  However, many other major markets, including China, Brazil, Russia, India, Australia, and Canada, were down, with the BRIC countries in particular suffering the worst declines.