The Straits Times Index and its peer benchmark indices around the region have taken their cue in recent weeks from little more than the ebb and flow of global financial markets that, in turn, have been focused mostly on developments in Europe. In fact, according to a study by Barclays Capital, the movement of global equity markets, the US dollar, US Treasuries, oil and credit markets have displayed even more correlation over last 90 days than during the darkest hours of the 2007–08 financial crisis.