World Equity Markets Get Bad Start in 08

S&P’s monthly global stock market review, The World by Numbers, indicated that for the first three months of the year, all but one developed equity market posted a negative return. Of the 26 developed markets, only Luxembourg (+2.09%) gained ground. 

The hardest hit developed equity markets in the first quarter were Iceland (-32.36%), Hong Kong (-18.07%), and Greece (-14.90%), according to an S&P press release.

Among emerging world equity markets, 15 of the 26 countries lost ground during the quarter. The countries with the best performance were Morocco (+23.81%), Pakistan (+10.25%), and Chile (+8.50%), and the worst performers were Turkey (-36.62%), India (-28.55%), and China (-24.65%).

“Near record commodity prices, 10-year U.S. Treasury rates approaching their lowest level, a struggling dollar, and the potential global impact of a perceived U.S. recession all fuelled market volatility and uncertainty during the first quarter,” said Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard & Poor’s, in a news release.

In March, world equity markets lost 1.09% and emerging equity markets fell 5.11%.  Eight of the 10 sectors posted losses, with only Industrials (0.19%) and Consumer Staples (2.65%) posting gains. Growth (-1.31%) underperformed Value (-0.87%) for the month.

The S&P/Citigroup World by Numbers Report for March can be accessed at www.worldbynumbers.standardandpoors.com .