Currencies

The soaring stock market, sizzling economy, and still historically low interest rates in the United States make it all too easy to forget about the wider world beyond these shores.

But the world is out there... and right now, it's not pretty.

The emerging markets, the single investment darlings that used to boast two and three times the growth of North America and Western Europe, have hit the skids.

It's no exaggeration to use the word "crisis."

You can really take your pick here, but Venezuela, Argentina, Turkey, Iran, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia are the easy ones to point out.

All have seen their currencies take sharp haircuts over the past several months - quite a few of these currencies are in outright free fall - and the outlook is not promising.

One major headwind for them is the relative strength of the U.S. dollar.

The greenback has risen by 8% against a basket of the most utilized major world currencies and much more against those of emerging markets.

Turkey, for instance, is in the throes of economic turmoil. Argentina has come hat in hand to the IMF's door for a $50 billion loan. During "rough" weeks, savers and shoppers in Iran and Venezuela watch their net worth depreciate by the hour.

Anyone who's old enough to remember the late 1990s knows such events in emerging markets have a tendency to spread, and the contagion effect can rapidly spiral outward, engulfing entire regions like wildfire.

The easy call: If you're in, it's time to get out.