Markets Register One of Worst Ever Starts

World equity markets lost a combined $5.2 trillion in January, emerging markets fell 12.44%, and developed markets lost 7.83%, according to an S&P press release. “There were few safe havens in January as 50 of the 52 global equity markets ended the month in negative territory, with 25 of them posting double-digit losses,” said Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard & Poor’s, in the release.

All 26 developed equity markets posted negative returns in January, with 16 losing at least 10% of their value. The January declines negated all previous market gains, leaving all developed markets in the red for the trailing three-month period, S&P said. Twelve-month returns were mixed with 15 developed markets in positive territory and eleven in the red – six with double-digit negative returns.

In the world’s emerging equity markets, gains were posted by Morocco (+10.17%) and Jordan (+3.11%). Turkey lost 22.70%, followed by China (-21.40%), Russia (-16.12%), and India (-16.00%). Only five emerging markets are positive for the three-month period ending January.

All ten GICS sectors posted losses in January. Information Technology posted a gain of 11.57%, while the Energy sector remained close behind at -11.45%. In general, non-U.S. Consumer related (Discretionary and Staples) issues did worse than their U.S. counterparts, as did Financials.

Although both declined for the month, value (-6.98%) outperformed growth (-8.63%). Asian Pacific Growth dropped 15.95% and European Value declined 17.05% for the three-month period.

The S&P/Citigroup World by Numbers Report for January can be accessed by going to www.worldbynumbers.standardandpoors.com.