2009 Country Stock Market Performance -- Things Already Aren't Pretty

Of the 84 country equity indices that we track, 19 are up so far this year, which is at least better than we could say for 2008. As shown, China is currently the second best performing country so far this year, with a gain of 9.33%. Another BRIC country that is currently in the black for 2009 is Brazil, with a gain of 2.49%. But 19 countries in the black means that 65 countries are already in the red, and some are bleeding pretty badly. Seventeen countries are down more than 10%, including G-7 countries Germany and Japan. Canada is the best performing G-7 country so far in 2009 with a decline of 3.50%. Puerto Rico has seen the biggest loss -- falling by 34%.