Emerging Markets are still going strong

Although industrialized economies in the U.S., Europe, and Japan are all likely to see slow growth in the next couple of years, emerging markets are still going strong.

Country   GDP Growth --  2008 GDP      2009 GDP
          Past 12 Months Growth Est.   Growth Est.
United States  2.5%          1.1%          1.7% 
Germany        1.8%          1.7%          1.6% 
Japan          2.0%          1.3%          1.5% 
China         10.6%          9.6%          9.0% 
India          8.4%          7.8%          7.2% 
Brazil         6.2%          4.6%          4.0% 
Russia         8.0%          7.1%          6.2%

By one simple measure -- the P/E ratio -- emerging-market countries have quite reasonable stock market valuations. And in some cases, they look downright cheap.

Country  Trailing P/E  Estimated
                       Forward P/E 
United States  19.2      14.8 
Germany        12.4      11.9 
Japan          16.6      15.6 
China          19.5      16.2 
India          22.0      20.9 
Brazil         16.2      13.2 
Russia         10.4      11.6