World Equity Market Boosted by Positive Returns in Every Country

This pushed the S&P/Citigroup Developed World Index to a 3.47% gain for the month, according to an S&P press release.   Year-to-date through November, the index has returned 8.90%.

S&P attributes this strong performance to investor optimism, fueled by lower energy prices and a stronger than expected US economy.

On the emerging market front, The S&P/Citigroup Emerging Markets Index rose 7.27% in November.    Only six emerging market countries lost ground during the month.  Emerging market country returns ranged from a 19.21% gain for Turkey to a 5.25% decline for Nigeria.   Taiwan, Brazil andSouth Africa each  turned in a strong performance during the month as well, while also providing currency returns for US dollar based investors.

The S&P/Citigroup BMI Value Index gained 3.63% versus 3.31% for the S&P/Citigroup BMI Growth Index.  In the three major regions (Europe, North America and Asia Pacific) growth outperformed value 4.93% versus 4.00%. 

Small cap stocks in the developed world regained their advantage in November, as the under-$2 billion range (+4.22%) outperformed the over-$10 billion range (+3.03%) during the month.  In the relative cap ranges, the smaller-cap S&P/Citigroup Extended Market Index (EMI) outperformed the larger-cap Primary Market Index (PMI) 4.25% versus 3.25%.  The EMI outperformed the PMI in 15 of the developed world’s 27 countries during November.

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