As we progress through 2010 we are seeing an increasing divergence in the performance of regional stock markets.

During the first four months of 2010 American and Far Eastern / Asian markets have shown reasonably steady growth. As at the May Day holiday, US markets were up 6% year to date, Japan was up 9% and although China / Hong Kong are both down on the year, many of the other Far Eastern markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are all in positive territory.

European markets, however, have fared less well. Indeed it has been a switchback ride so far this year and after sharp falls today most European markets have moved back to break even or even negative territory for the year. The reason of course, is Greece, with Spain, Portugal in close support.

One debt crisis does not a  crash create, but it seems our long standing asset allocation stance of favouring the Far East and the Americas at the expense of Europe and the UK continues to have merit.