| Chicago Tribune: Europe rising

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Europe rising

European stock market capitalization totaled $15.72 trillion compared with $15.64 trillion for the U.S. The Financial Times attributed this to the euro's strength against the dollar and the faster growth and better market performance across the pond, particularly in Eastern Europe. (It's probably also due to the private equity boom in the U.S., which has resulted in a record number of U.S. companies exiting the public stock market.)

Lest Americans obsess about this apparent evidence of the loss of U.S. primacy in commerce, know there's a caveat. The "Europe" referred to in the Financial Times stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Arctic Ocean to the Mediterranean. It includes Russia and Turkey, two dozen stock markets in all.