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Graphic shows fall of MSCI’s All Country World Index since Federal Reserve hikes a benchmark interest rate.
GN38424EN

MARKETS

Investors dump equities

By Duncan Mil

October 12, 2018 - Global stock markets headed toward the worst week in more than six months as investors spooked by rising interest rates sold equities.

MSCI’s All Country World Index -- a global barometer of stocks -- tumbled on Thursday to its lowest level since early February, in a sign of the amplitude of the sell-off gripping global equity markets.

The index dropped to a fresh low of $489.40 after the start of European trading. It had shed 6.8 per cent since September 26, when U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell raised a benchmark interest rate to a range of 2-2.25% – bank’s third increase in 2018.

U.S. President Donald Trump took the unusual step of blaming the sell-off on Powell for raising interest rates, saying the Fed was “out of control.”

The MSCI ACWI represents stocks from 23 developed and 24 emerging markets. The United States holds around 53 per cent of the total market capitalisation of some $46.8 trillion.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 12/10/2018; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Associated Press
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