The Russian stock market is now one of the world's greatest "boom-and-bust" markets.
The country's reserve of crude oil, natural gas, timber, precious metals, and base metals is incredible, which makes the economy sensitive to commodity prices. Russia is also home to great amounts of government and corporate corruption.
These two drivers are clobbering Russian shares right now. Oil has fallen US$40 a barrel in the past two months. Natural gas has fallen 44% in the same period. Gold, silver, nickel, platinum and palladium are all declining. The invasion of Georgia worsens the Russian debacle.
The chart below is a bird's eye view of a very bearish Russian ETF. The Templeton Russia Fund (TRF) is a basket of Russian stocks, which is down 40% since June.
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