Reader Brad pointed to an article titled “U.S. vs. Global Markets: Pain is Where You Feel It.” Here is an excerpt:
For months now, the entire media and the financial blogsphere has been talking about how dismal the U.S. financial markets have been. There is a tendency to believe that we are at the center of the world and that our problems are amplified compared to everyone else’s. In reality, although it may be true that we are situated at the hub of the world economy; but relatively speaking, our problems are not so bad.
The decline of the U.S. market (DJIA) by 7.9% YTD is hardly a dent compared to the losses other countries have been experiencing this year.
The featured map illustrates this point well as it shows at a glance how the world stock markets fared during the first quarter:
