Home > European Markets
European Stocks: Ahead Of The U.S., Or Behind It?
They say, "the world catches a cold when America sneezes." Is that true?
"Many adopt the view that 'the world catches a cold when America sneezes.' IndyMac Bank failed in California [recently], and the Guardian reported that the British economy is bracing for more turbulence as the [credit crisis] fallout spreads across the Atlantic.
"We could, however, argue that the turbulence started in the UK and spread to the U.S.! The failures of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley in the UK came before the failures of IndyMac and Bear Stearns. The Americans might still be ignoring the tottering balance sheets of their banks – if the Brits had not faced up to their red ink first."
– Tom Denham, editor, EWI's European Short Term Update, July 14, 2008.
An interesting insight, isn’t it? Well, whichever continent is leading the way, one this for sure: "One by one, countries across the [European Union] block are in danger of succumbing to the global economic downturn." (The Economist)
That's also a good point; even if Europe's stocks are destined to fall some more, no market ever moves in a straight line; rallies are inevitable.
- Germany's DAX stock index
- Britain's FTSE-100
- France's CAC40
- The Netherlands' AEX
- Switzerland's SMI
- Spain's IBEX 35
- Italy's MIB 30
- Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50
- Russia's RTS
- Eastern Europe's CECE Overall Traded Index: Hungary, Poland, Czech and Slovakia.
- PLUS, Special Study: Zeitgeist & The Stealth Tax, Political Scandal and the DAX – "In Germany and elsewhere, there is a powerful undercurrent in the transition to bear-market psychology…" says EWI's Alan Hall as he takes a close look at the German DAX in terms of gold prices and studies a correlation between the DAX's trend and Germany's political scandals. See the charts and read more in this Special 2-page Study.