Wednesday, 31st October 2018
Taking stock….
Stocks are down across the month of October. Not just in Britain – but everywhere. Significantly so….
The British FTSE 100 index is down 4.81% on the month….
The S&P 500 has fallen 8.6%….
The German Dax is down 7.21%. The French CAC 40 is down 7.5%. In Japan, the NIKKEI 225 has lost 9.6%….
It’s down, down, down – across the board – and investors are worried….
- Fear levels on the rise….
The VIX measures how fearful S&P 500 investors are feeling about the future….
The current VIX reading is not at the heights of mid-October’s 25.97. But yesterday’s closing mark of 24.70 says investors are still plenty scared….
Here in Britain, the Hargreaves Lansdown Investor Confidence Index says investor sentiment has fallen to a record low. The index fell five points to 53 this month….
That’s the lowest measure of sentiment towards the UK stock market since the Investor Confidence index was launched back in 1995….
And it’s not just man-on-the-street investors feeling fearful. US fund managers also have a stomach knot….
The latest Bank of America Merrill Lynch Fund Managers Survey says optimism among institutional investors about the outlook for economic growth and corporate profits has reached its lowest level since the aftermath of the last financial crisis….… Click here to read more