The brick has dropped. Brazil, Russia, India and China – the so-called Bric countries – have long enjoyed turbo-charged economic growth. Yet this has not been matched by recent investment performance. This year, the US stock market has done better than any Bric. While the S&P 500 has fallen “just” 12 per cent, Brazil has lost 15 per cent, Russia and India more than 20 per cent, and China’s CSI 300 index a whopping 54 per cent.

Local factors have played a role. More important, though, has been the fall in commodity prices. This has hurt resource-rich countries, such as Russia and Brazil. It has also dented the belief that strong Asian economies were why commodity prices were rising in the first place. That is why the markets of traditional commodity importers such as China and India – which benefit from falling food and energy prices – have also suffered.