The message just keeps coming.

The rest of the world, especially the developing world, is where the best-performing investments can be found.

The world's best stock in 2007 was Inner Mongolia Yitai Coal Co. Ltd. It's a Chinese stock that produced a more than 1,017 percent return for its investors.

Inner Mongolia?

Not a single U.S. stock was in the top ten last year. Of the 100 best stocks around the globe, six were U.S. companies. Otherwise, it was all China, India and Hong Kong that produced the winners.

Russell Investment Group, which publishes global market indexes, this week said the U.S. share of the world’s investments has shrunk some more. In 1999, U.S. stocks were 59 percent of the Russell Global Index. Today, they are 42 percent.

U.S. stocks have grown in value in that period. Stocks from the rest of the world have too, but more.

Which brings me to the number of the day: The non-U.S. companies in Russell’s Global Index grew in market value from $8.7 trillion in 1999 to $21.6 trillion last June. By comparison, the U.S. stocks grew in value from $12.6 trillion to $16.8 trillion.

As you manage your investments, make sure you have a stake beyond the U.S. We can debate how much and whether emerging markets have any fizzle left and whether the developing non-U.S. world is where you want to be. The point is to be broad in your thinking. That’s the starting point.