If you're selling the black stuff, a higher price equals happier times, right? So oil producer nations must be pretty rosy these days: crude, after all, has doubled since January. Yet Gulf markets are the worst performing on the planet this year – and not just in indebted Dubai. Stocks are also negative in blindingly rich Kuwait. In the third quarter, Venezuela plunged into recession after 22 quarters of consecutive growth, with Goldman Sachs saying a devaluation is “inevitable”. Meanwhile, Mexico, whose economy has hit the skids, has just hedged all of next year's oil exports against prices dropping below $57 a barrel.
如果你是賣原油的，那麼價格更高就等於日子更快樂，對嗎？因此，石油生產國如今的日子肯定非常美好：畢竟，原油價格自今年1月以來已經翻了一番。然而，海灣地區市場卻是今年全球表現最糟糕的地方。不僅債務纏身的杜拜如此，就連富得流油的科威特股市也同樣走低。今年第三季度，委內瑞拉結束了連續22個季度的成長，陷入衰退——高盛表示，該國貨幣貶值將「不可避免」。與此同時，經濟走上下坡路的墨西哥，已經針對油價降至每桶57美元之下的情況，對其明年全部的石油出口進行了對沖。
