* Nikkei 225 Stock Average: -194.29 (-1.1%) to 17,963.64; First session in six below 18,000, three-week intra-day low below 17,900
* Nikkei 225 futures Osaka: -210 (-1.2%) to 17,970, Singapore (SGX) 17,965, Chicago (CME) 7/20 — 17,950
* TOPIX: -18.88 (-1.1%) to 1,757.29; Advancers 233 x decliners 1,430 (unchanged 67), New highs 30 x new lows 164; […]

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Recent USAA market commentary on emerging markets highlights the outperformance of BRICs [Brazil, Russia, India and China] equities in the four-year period of 2003 - 2006. Take a look at the numbers, plus we’ve crunched the four-year average annual return for the Nikkei 225 as well.
BRICs: 49.9%
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (inc. BRICs): 38.2%
MSCI EAFE […]

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The WSJ.com ASIALINKS alert excerpts a piece on earnings guidance, which contains interesting statistics:
Between 2001 and 2006, Standard & Poor’s 500 companies that issued guidance beat analysts’ expectations 65% of the time, while companies that didn’t issue guidance beat them 63% of the time, according to a recent report from Thomson Financial.
It can be […]

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