In the beginning of the last week it looked like this rally is losing steam. But we finish the whole week again higher. I guess reality check will come after summer time when most of the traders come back from holiday and we will see again standard trading volume.

Today I would like to use this post for comparison of different assets classes as an investments. The chart below shows performance since the beginning of the year.

Generally stocks were the place to be in for the first half of 2009. Emerging markets equities are leading the ranking with 60% return, followed by developed markets equities 34% and REIT 22%.

For the rest of 2009 I prefer still emerging markets as a best investments. But I'd be more selective with focus on Asian markets ex. Japan and China. Countries like Thailand, South Korea or Singapore. These markets don't seem so overheated like Chinese and local currencies are traded at several years lows. This makes Asian equities even more interesting investment for international investors.



I made the comparision based on ETF which represents different assets.

High Yield Bonds	iShares iBOXX High Yield	(HYG)
TIPS	iShares Barclays TIPS	(TIP)
Emerging markets bonds	iShares EM bonds	(EMB)
Cash	SPDR 3 month T-Bill ETF	(BIL)
US bonds	Barclays agg. Bond fund	(AGG)
Foreign Dev Market bonds	iShares Intl. bond fund	(IGOV)
Commodities	iShares GSCI commodity	(GSG)
Emerging markets stocks	iShares MSCI EM Index	(EEM)
US stocks	iShares Russell 3000	(IWV)
Foreign Dev Market stocks	iShares MSCI EAFE Index	(EFA)
REITs	Wilshire REIT Index	(RWR)