Standard & Poor's announced that emerging market returns outpaced developed market returns in July. According to Standard & Poor's global stock market review, The World By Numbers, emerging equity markets rose 4.53% for the month versus a 2.02% loss for developed equity markets. Looking at the 12-month period ending in July, emerging market returns continue to remain strong with a 53.94% gain, more than double the developed markets gain of 21.52%.

"World markets were volatile in July, with developed markets weighted down by poor performances in Japan, United Kingdom and United States," says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard & Poor's. "In the United States, markets set a new high on July 19th and then fell 6.3% by the end of the month. U.S. concerns over liquidity, housing and fixed income instruments related to housing were the chief reasons for the downturn in the markets, while globally, the events were regarded solely as a U.S. issue."

Only 12 of the 27 developed markets posted positive returns in July. Double-digit gains were posted by South Korea (+11.56%) and Slovenia (+10.42%), with the rest of the developed markets quickly falling. The top three markets by weight, Japan, United Kingdom and United States, were all down, posting losses of 0.26%, 2.20% and 3.41% respectively.

For the month, 10 of the 25 emerging markets finished in positive territory with Thailand (+14.17%), Turkey (+13.62%) and China (+14.47%) posting significant returns. Negative returns for the emerging markets were modest, with Mexico (-3.44%), the Philippines (-3.33%) and Pakistan (-3.25%) showing the greatest declines.

In July, 8 of the 10 sectors posted losses, led by Financials with a 4.27% decline. Materials (+1.12%) and Industrials (+0.96%) were the only sectors to post gains. Marine issues, a sub-industry of Industrials, increased 13.94% in July, and is now posting a substantial 12-month return of 103.5%.