The word BRIC entered the lexicon of global investors and traders in 2001 thanks to Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs. Since then there has been a continuous stream of products, investment theses, strategies and contrary opinions to take advantages of the booms and busts in those economies. If one had invested at the beginning of 2002 in these countries then one would have earned 292% by the end of July 2012 for an annualized return of 13.8%. Ex-China the return would have been 379% and annualized rate 15.9%. That is pretty good considering that during this time S&P 500 returned only 20% for an annualized rate of 1.7%.

However, now perhaps it is time to find a new kid on the block because it seems that if one remains hung up on BRIC nations then one’s portfolio may fall like a brick. BRICs are no longer performing the way they were few years ago. Oh sure, their economies are growing and they are a big engine behind the global GDP growth, but their equity markets are not producing stellar returns.

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