For all you gold bears out there, here are a few numbers to digest from an emerging markets perspective.
The real, structural bull market in emerging stocks started in April 2003, when these economies had recovered from the various currency and credit crises of the late 1990s and were ready to grow.
Spurred on by Western demand for their output, coupled with a massive expansion of consumption at home, this was a nice organic story — and it translated into substantial returns for investors.
Even counting the 2008-9 recession and the more recent downturn, emerging markets (EEM) generated annualized performance of 18% a year since 2003.
Compare that to the S&P 500 (SPY), which has delivered 5% a year over the same period: not terrible, but not great.
Meanwhile, it turns out that gold (GLD) has surged an annualized 23% since 2003, with less volatility.
This is not just a bubble run for gold. It has been a structural shift in the way the world’s markets work and the way global risk is managed.