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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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There are plenty of things to worry about in the current economic situation. But deflation isn't one of them.

Greg Mankiw had a great article last weekend in which he challenged the view that macroeconomists have learned enough to prevent a repeat of the Great Depression. Greg notes some disturbing similarities between our current difficulties and the problems of the 1930s:

From 1930 to 1933, more than 9,000 banks were shuttered, imposing losses on depositors and shareholders of about $2.5 billion. As a share of the economy, that would be the equivalent of $340 billion today. The banking panics put downward pressure on economic activity in two ways. First, they put fear into the hearts of depositors. Many people concluded that cash in their mattresses was wiser than accounts at local banks. As they withdrew their funds, the banking system's normal lending and money creation went into

New ETFs also start listing in Tokyo and Hong Kong as boom continues throughout Asia.

The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) set a record in exchange-traded funds trading volume in September, with almost $323 million, or a 4% increase over the previous record of $311.3 million set in March 2008.

Volume of 38.2 million shares in September was also 7% higher than the previous record of 35.7 million shares. The total value of ETFs traded on the SGX reached $2.2 billion through the first 9 months of the year, a 277%, or $584 million, increase over the same year 2007 period.

Similar to the domination of a handful of large ETFs in the U.S., such as SPY and QQQQ, the trading and volume increases in Singapore have been driven by a few large ETFs -- iShares MSCI India ETF, Lyxor India ETF (Nifty) and SPDR Gold Shares, no surprise in the case of the latter portfolio, as gold investments

The veteran ETF analyst says new job with BGI will give her even more resources to track such an expanding and complex marketplace. 

Barclays Global Investors caught the attention of the market last week with its hiring of Deborah Fuhr, arguably the most well-known among analysts tracking global exchange- traded funds markets.

The former Morgan Stanley strategist announced September 7 that she's moving from one of the world's largest brokerages to Barclays Global Investors, the ETF industry's biggest player. (See related story.)

Fuhr started her new job this week as BGI's global head of ETFs research and implementation strategy. Even though she has been busy  assembling a new staff and preparing for her new position, Fuhr took time out from her busy schedule recently to talk to IndexUniverse.com's Eric Rosenbaum about the move to BGI and its implications.

IndexUniverse.com (IU): Will you be moving to BGI's headquarters in San

Just when investors started doubting the safe-haven status of gold at the time of the sub-prime mortgage debacle putting pressure on most financial markets, the yellow metal came to life and staged a spectacular $56 rally. Although not expecting anything as dramatic, I have for a while been advocating a strong emphasis on gold (see posting “Gold – more than a safe-haven play”, August 14, 2007).

The last week’s move has taken the gold price to above $700 for the first time in more than 16 months. It has also taken gold to within $143 of its all-time high of $850 reached on January 21, 1980 and within $23 of its May 12, 2006 high of $730 (which, incidentally, was the highest level since 1981).