World equity markets lost an estimated US$5.79 trillion last month, the biggest monthly loss ever, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Index Services said on Monday.
The loss eclipsed the previous record, which was set just one month earlier, when 52 global equity markets lost a combined US$4 trillion.
Through the first 10 months of the year, world markets have lost about US$16.22 trillion, S&P research shows.
Though US markets accounted for nearly 40 percent of the losses during the month, they performed better than the average world market.
The US accounted for US$2.27 trillion of last month’s losses, as S&P’s broad market index for the nation fell 18 percent. The global average decline was 20.7 percent during the month.
“At the beginning of the year, the US was somewhat written off,” said Howard Silverblatt, a senior index analyst at S&P.
“Comparatively the US is significantly better because of the depth and types of markets,” he said.
Silverblatt said the US also should be able to recover better than many other markets as individual investors are more likely to return to the world’s largest market.
The US represents about 45.9 percent of all global equity issues, S&P said.
In emerging markets and even some developed markets, many investors might not return as the outsized losses in recent months have taken their toll, Silverblatt said.
A lack of history, depth and liquidity in markets could keep individual investors on the sidelines in other countries, he said.
Global markets have declined nearly 40 percent since the end of May.
Hungary’s equity market declined the most last month, falling 43.2 percent during the month, which equates to about US$8.6 billion in losses. Pakistan performed the best, falling just 4.2 percent, or US$276 million.
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