Y2k

Y2K pessimists are approaching their moment of truth. In seven weeks the world will, or will not, run into more trouble than most people think. Investors will, or will not, suffer last-minute jitters as the millennium draws near. Yes, yes, I know—it's not yet the millennium, from a technical point of view. As a stern band of readers likes to remind me, only morons believe the millennium falls on Jan. 1. The 1,000-year span …

…Japan, are up 41 percent since January. "The region is in the early stages of a long bull market," Sinai believes. Japan funds, for that matter, are up 84 percent—on constructive financial reform and solid growth, says Adam Posen, senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C. Europe has a growth story, too. For a decade, we've focused on U.S. stocks. In the '00s, it may be the internationals' turn.