Global Investing

This chart shows the wide dispersion in equity market performance so far this year. In local currency terms Korea has a total return of nearly 12% and Germany over 10%, this compares to Italy at-6% and Spain at -16%.

In contrast to last year, this has driven average correlations between equity markets lower.

However, correlations may well pick up if markets move back into ‘risk-off’ mode. The chart below showing the weakness in the Citigroup G10 economic surprise indicator seems to be pointing towards further weakness in bonds relative to equities.

The correlation between individual country equity indices is rising again:

U.S. consumer spending jumps in February but income growth tepid.

Apple vs. RIM market value:

Investors smelling profits in commodities are using the sector as an early cycle play, alongside equities, because a lack of production capacity means higher prices sooner rather than later. 

Historically, prices of natural resources lag equities, which typically front run the economic cycle by between 18 to 24 months. The change is also partly due to the tumbling dollar, a major driver in recent weeks.

The natural resources sector is also one of the last to price in economic expansion. But not this time.

It’s good to drink it, but it seems good to sit on it too.

Fine wine, yielding double-digit returns, is low risk and good diversifier given its weak correlation to the return of asset classes — according to a fund which invests in fine wine.

The Wine Investment Fund says investors are receiving returns (after all fees and expenses) equivalent to 13.01% per annum over the last 5 years.

“This year’s payout represents a real return in excess of 70% or 10% per annum when allowing for inflation.  By comparison, over the same period the FTSE’s real return is -3.5% and a typical savings account would have generated a real return of less than 10%.  Fine wine has produced positive and consistent returns for decades now.  It really is proving its worth and we see more professional investors using it as a valuable diversification tool within a properly managed investment portfolio,” says Andrew della Casa, director of the fund.

It's becoming increasingly common to blame Chinese stocks for recent volatility in global markets.

In some places, numbers do back up why China and other markets are increasingly moving in tandem.

According to Brown Brothers Harriman, the correlation based on percentage change between Shanghai stocks and the S&P 500 index has risen to 18 percent in the last three months. This compares with year-to-date correlation of 9 percent and 4.5 percent in the past two years.

Oil prices have been trading in an unusually strong positive correlation with equities markets over the past few months on hopes that signs of an economic recovery could mean a boost for energy demand.

But with oil and product inventories swelling and little sign of demand improving in the United States and other big developed economies, analysts warn that the linkage may be hard to maintain, especially if U.S. motorists cut back on vacations this summer.