Japan has been seen since September as one of the few bastions of relative stability in the global economic climate. It “only” fell approximately 30% during the September crash, compared to the approx. 40-60% of the US and China respectively, and has weathered the global economic storm much better than most. This is evidenced by the following Emerginvest performance charts of Japan, China, and the US – note the relatively shallow decline in September for Japan compared to its counterparts:

Japan’s Market Performance over the last year.

China’s 12-Month Market Performance

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I hoped I would go my lifetime without ever seeing the S&P 500 be down 40% in a year, but the reality is slowly settling in, especially seeing the Emerginvest global heat map for the last quarter on a daily basis:

However, as bleak as it has been, there is no shortage of exceedingly dire news with economic reports or predictions on how long the recession will last. Americans have just begun to feel the first repercussions of the omnipresent economic talk in their daily lives with massive job losses, and an overall pervasive sentiment of belt-tightening.

A few of the news highlights from the past two weeks:

Massive Job Loss

The widely discussed report that 500,000 jobs were lost in November alone, seemed to put a