Russia has currency problems. It may have helped our economy to not overheat and cause the FED to raise short term interest rates and caused a bear market in stocks. Instead, we have a slowly rolling economy with a minor pause in a bull market for all stocks and plenty of money to go into the markets. The gap between prices and wages has created a profit squeeze for US companies. Prices are hard to push up because of global competition.
Wages are up due to labor shortages.
Right where we've been putting money, in good quality US and Foreign stocks and bonds. They're on sale, and prices won't look this good ever again. Low inflation, low interest rates, lower capital gains tax rates and Holding Periods along with reasonable valuations make this a great time to go long. The Dow will break the 9300 barrier again this year and interest rates will fall further. But hurt by the Asian economic crisis, not all stocks have participated - despite help from lower interest rates and a strong bond market.