Emerging, Developed Markets See 2nd Month of Gains

An S&P news release about its The World By Numbers equity market review reported that developed equity markets gained 4.44% in April while emerging stock markets were ahead 4.56% over the month. That was the second straight month of gains in emerging and developed stock markets (See  S&P Emerging, Developed Equities Back in the Black in March .)

“World equity markets turned sharply higher in April, buoyed by stronger than expected earnings and a perceived belief that U.S. internationals have started to realize gains from their global operations,” says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard & Poor’s, in the news release.  “In spite of the upturn, world concern grew in April over a myriad of U.S. situations such as the declining dollar, the largest drop in home sales since January 1989 (8.4%) and the slowest GDP gain in four years (1.3%).”

According to S&P data, 26 of the 27 developed world equity markets posted gains in April with an average return of 6.61%; Japan was the lone decliner, down 1.93%.  France however had a notable increase for the month, posting an 8.05% gain versus 3.45% in March. 

The emerging markets were equally positive for the month, with 22 of the 25 groups posting positive gains averaging 7.68%; Jordan (-1.63%), Russia (-2.43%) and Taiwan (-1.07%) were the laggards. For April, India raced ahead, posting a 13.15% gain versus 3.58% in March. 

More information is at www.standardandpoors.com/indices .