Asian Markerts

Part of investing philosophy is diversification.  Diversification can happen in a lot of ways, and frankly should happen in many ways (time horizon, industry, credit worthiness, etc.).  Often it has been reported that you can reduce your risk by adding a little international exposure to your portfolio.  Of all the companies trading in the world markets about 90% of them are not in the U.S. so this means you would need to get some international exposure or eliminate a large percentage of investment possibilities!  The financial crisis in the U.S. is having a negative impact on foreign stock markets and Asia is no different.  These markets are down from 15% (Tokyo) to 45% (Shanghai) to date.  Analysts are no longer asking if  we are in a bear market, but asking how long the bear market will last?