While all the focus seems to be on the fortunes of Wall St as a barometer of global sharemarket health, the reality is that US shares have done a lot better than most other countries.

A lot of people think most sharemarkets follow the US. They don’t.

Year to date, the Dow Jones index has only lost 0.3 per cent and the S&P 500 by 5.1 per cent.

Meanwhile the ASX-200 has lost 13 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 19 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 21 per cent, London 28 per cent.