With the luxuries of a huge domestic market and the international reserve currency, Americans normally put exchange rates far down on their list of economic worries. But, whether or not they realise it, their stock market is far more cosmopolitan than America in general. Nearly half of the S&P 500’s revenue now comes from abroad and almost 30 per cent from Europe, compared with only 12 per cent of US output from gross exports, a fact that boosted dollar earnings substantially in recent years. That effect may soon go into reverse, however, as the euro takes a tumble and China faces pressure to revalue the renminbi.
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