Stock markets melt down by USD 1.5 trillion in first quarter 2018 compared to last year end
It is reported that investors in financial markets face developments pointing to a “tough” year in the first quarter of 2018. Due to the difficulties experienced by global markets in 2017 originating from issues such as aggravated bond market turmoil, trade war fears and geopolitical risks the value of world stock markets melt down by USD1.5 trillion in the first 3 months of the current year as compared to the end of 2017.
In 2017 undesired developments such as Donald Trump’s decisions in the US presidential seat, political tensions between the US and North Korea, and the official start of the Brexit process had already had a negative impact on the markets.
On top of above, following the beginning of new year, the developments that led to concerns of “trade wars” between the US and China, the rapid rise in bond interest rates with the increase in inflation expectations abroad, the acceleration of normalization in monetary policies applied by central banks and the ongoing geopolitical risks putting financial markets under pressure, melt down the value of global markets.
According to the World Stock Exchange Federation (WFE) data, the value of the world stock exchanges, which amounted to USD 85 trillion 313 billion 751.7 million at the end of 2017, fell to USD 83 trillion 833 billion 116.3 million in the first quarter of the year. In said period, while the value of the world stock exchanges declined by 1 percent, this pointed to a loss of USD 1 trillion 480.6 billion.
Looking at the market value on a regional basis, the best performances were displayed by the stock markets in the US region in the first quarter. The value of the stock exchanges in the America region increased by 2.5 percent in the first quarter compared to the end of 2017 and reached USD 37 trillion 441.3 billion from USD 36 trillion 517.1 billion.
In this period, the market value of Asian and Pacific stock exchanges increased by 0.6 percent to USD 29.5 trillion dollars from USD 29 trillion.
In stock markets in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the market value declined by 13 percent to USD 17.2 trillion from USD 20.9 trillion.
