The FTSE All-World index — a stock market gauge comprising 47 countries — lost a “whopping” 7.3% in October, its worst since 2012.
This downturn is symbolic of a larger issue, according to the Financial Times, with only 853 companies of the global equity benchmark’s 3,211 members remaining in the black for 2018.
Investors have felt the effects as well, the Financial Times reported, with only the equities of large US companies and US junk bonds remaining profitable. Even the S&P 500 is only up “just over 2%.”
Why are global investors so unnerved? A combination of soaring U.S. interest rates and bond yields, China and a major growth scare may be to blame.
Since 2014, the Chinese economy has been steadily slowing, with a 6.5% decline in economic expansion pace in the third quarter of this year alone — “undershooting expectations and marking the slowest reading since 2009.”
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