We just closed the books on the year. Here is how the US, HK, and SG markets stacked up:

There was an unusual period from late Jan to early March when the HSI and STI assumed a NEGATIVE beta to the S&P. I am not sure why this is the case, but it could have something to do with the higher exposure to China in the HSI and STI components. As we have already observed in Hard Landing two weeks ago, China-origin firms continue to be hit hard regardless of the presence of fraud accusations, the latest casualty being the HK-listed China Yurun.

Then Japan happened and everyone took a predictable dive before rallying massively probably thanks to stimulus efforts. Early April was when the Eurozone insolvency flared up again and we have not really recovered in the three months since then, although we are pretty close. The month of ...