Global Stock Markets: Index Movements

The long weekend affords one the opportunity to take a break from the markets’ frenzied trading, and try and put things in perspective. More precisely, to reflect upon how much damage has been done since the stock market highs of a few months ago.

The table below shows the scorecard for a number of global stock markets, indicating the index movements since each of the respective market’s highs. The numbers (all in local currency terms) speak for themselves; suffice to say most are in bear-market territory based upon the traditional definition of a decline of more than 20%.

click to enlarge

Source: Plexus Asset Management (based on data from I-Net Bridge)

Interestingly, the MSCI World Index (-16.8%) is still shy of the -20% level, whereas this level has already been breached by the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (-20.4%). Also, European markets have mostly been underperforming the S&P 500 Index (-15.1%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Index (-12.7%). So much for global economies decoupling from the U.S.!

I do not have access to my normal research resources over the long weekend, but will publish a table next week with all the returns expressed in a common currency such as the euro. That should make for interesting reading.

Comments

[p2pvoice]

Is the "High" in the table "52-wk" high or "All Time" high?
Thanks.

[Mallarde]

I put a large proportion of my wealth (which is sadly not much) in a number of overseas index ETFs (GML, EZA, EEM and DEM) right at the peak in around Nov. 2007.

Ouch. I really thought that the South African market would move independently of the U.S. market. When I charted my ETFs against the Dow last week, they were in lock step the whole way. What is up with that???

Only DEM, which focuses on income-producing stocks, has held its value.

I have no plans to get out of the ETFs at this point, but I really have no sense of where these indeces are heading, in particular EEM. I think emerging markets have the most downside potential. Any thoughts?