(A great quarter, too!)
Against a backdrop of geopolitical de-escalation, international equity markets in aggregate experienced a great 2026 2nd quarter. The Morgan Stanley ACWI (All Country World Index) ex USA for that period was up 14.69%.
Although most major regions were in positive territory, AI related stocks pushed the AC Asia up index up 23.31%. Particularly notable were technology heavy indices – Korea, up 87.62% and Taiwan, up 48.95%. On the other hand, eroding of investor trust pushed the Indonesian index down 25.72%.
Higher than expected consumer inflation and lower investor confidence were credited for the drop in the EM (Emerging Markets) Latin America index, which lost 3.41% for the period. Good performance from other regions, however, led to a return of 24.15% for the MSCI EM Index.
MSCI’s developed Europe index was up 11.32% for the quarter. The Netherlands market was up 36.13% led by ASML, which produces photolithography machines used to manufacture microchips. A cooling domestic economy and drooping consumer confidence were credited with a decline in the Norwegian index of 13.50%.
Elsewhere, in Canada, the good performance of financials and energy were offset somewhat by drops in gold and base metals stocks – the index was up 6.18%.
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