Go Global has outperformed Stay Home so far this year. Based on FTSE data, the US stock market index (up 11.8% ytd) has underperformed the World index (13.4%) so far this year in local currency (chart). Its underperformance has been worse in US dollar terms since the greenback has been weak this year. Among the outperformers this year, in local currency, have been South Korea (56.0%), Spain (38.3%), China (36.0%), Hong Kong (25.8%), Italy (23.3%), and Taiwan (22.9%).
Interestingly, in China, Basic Materials (86.2%) and Health Care (75.1%) have been the best-performing sectors. In Spain, the financial sector (78.1%) has been the big winner. In Taiwan, Industrials (48.5%) outpaced Technology (26.2%) so far this year.
It is relatively easy to overweight the rest of the world (ROW) in global portfolios because the US accounts for such a significant portion (65.0%) of the market capitalization of the All Country World MSCI (chart).
