Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better . . .

Here’s a bit of a slam from the FT Lex column. More economic analysis coming later today.

Russia likes to think anything the west can do these days, it can do better. Apparently that goes for financial crises, too. Russia’s two stock exchanges have suspended trading two days running, after double-digit falls, for the first time since Russia’s 1998 default. Russia even has its own victim. KIT Finance, a Moscow investment house, confirmed today it was in talks to find a buyer after it failed to make payment on several short-term loans. Russia has undoubtedly exacerbated its market woes through its military adventures in Georgia. But those compounded external factors pushing the Russian market down, including the turn in the oil price, falling commodity prices, a strengthening dollar, and rotation out of emerging markets.