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The Markets November 3, 2008
Worst Month Ever for World Equity Markets
World equity markets registered their worst month in history as investors lost an estimated $5.79 trillion during October, Standard&Poor’s Index Services announced Monday.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
According to the announcement, measured in dollar change to investor held equity accounts, the October loss of the 52 global equity markets was 45% above that of September when markets lost a then-record $4 trillion. Standard & Poor’s estimates that investors have lost $16.22 trillion year-to-date through October.
“Overlooked, however, is the fact that the U.S. market has been one of the better performing markets over the past five months—although the losses are substantial,” said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at Standard & Poor’s, in the announcement. “To some extent, the much higher expectations of non-U.S. growth, as well as the expected U.S. decoupling, have caused a much stronger market decline abroad. As a result, the U.S. now represents 45.9% of all global equity issues, compared to 40.5% at the end of May.’
More information is available at www.standardandpoors.com.