The big winners of 2010 scored returns far above those of U.S. markets by piggybacking on China's ferocious growth. But rebounding American equities look mighty impressive next to the year's real losers: the victims of the eurozone debt crisis.
The dollar-stocks see-saw -- in which the two move in opposite directions -- seems to be holding up. And over the longer term, there's good reason for the dollar to stay on its recent upward trend, which would be bad news for stock prices.
The capital markets have begun to believe the deficit and debt problems in Ireland and Greece may overwhelm political efforts to balance national budgets.
Officially, Europe's fiscal health is on the mend, but each time the Continent's debt crisis is declared history, some ugly financial news quickly emerges to undercut those claims. Indeed, the real eurozone meltdown may still lurking beyond the horizon.