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A light show is projected onto Brussels' Town Hall (R) as part of Christmas events at the Grand-Place in Brussels November 29, 2013.YVES HERMAN/Reuters

On a day when the Globe and Mail has broken a story about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, it is awfully difficult to write about the virtues of – sigh – the Belgian stock market. But bear with me here.

Standard & Poor's released performance numbers for global equity markets in April and one thing stands out: developed markets continue to wallop emerging markets, reinforcing a trend that has persisted since the start of 2013 and shows few signs of reversing any time soon.

According to S&P, emerging markets fell 0.35 per cent last month, versus a gain of 0.46 per cent for developed markets. Exclude the U.S., where investors are busily rotating out of growth stocks and into value stocks, and developed markets did even better, with a gain of nearly 1 per cent.

Belgium – mentioned primarily because it is the polar opposite of Rob Ford in terms of news value – did better than the average, rising 1.7 per cent. The U.K. is a standout, with a gain of 3.2 per cent. Canada is also doing very well, rising 2.9 per cent.

One month is just one month, but April's results nonetheless speak to investor preferences these days. Emerging markets have been saddled with a combination of geopolitical issues (highlighted by Russia), slowing economic growth (China) and concerns about shifting U.S. monetary policy (Brazil and India).

On the other hand, developed markets are basking in a slow-but-improving economic outlook – particularly in Europe, where the outlook had been grim.

In terms of money flows into exchange-traded funds, though, investors apparently see bargains in emerging markets. According to National Bank Financial, emerging market ETFs saw inflows of more than $5-billion (U.S.) in April – mostly equity funds – representing an increase of about 4 per cent. By comparison, inflows into U.S. equity funds rose just 0.9 per cent and inflows into Canadian equity ETFs rose 3 per cent.

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