Stock Markets Plunge Ahead of Christmas

Even though we are in the midst of the best selling seasons of the year for the retail market, stocks are something else, and just ahead of Christmas, they plunged again on Friday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst week since the financial crisis in 2008, down nearly 7 percent. Dragged by the US, other stock markets across the globe have seen how their assets have gone down this month. The uncertainty of Brexit, the ongoing US-China trade dispute, the closure of the US government and global demanding of oil going down, the global sentiment is rather pessimist in an otherwise happy time of the year.

Moreover, bad news in the US doesn’t stop with the Dow Jones, as the Nasdaq Composite Index closed in a bear market, with the S&P 500 on the brink of one itself, down nearly 18 percent from its record earlier this year, as it was reported by CNBC.

Regarding the news that Markets have plunged ahead of Christmas, Mihir Kapadia, CEO and Founder of Sun Global Investments, commented, “As Christmas approaches, market sentiment remains very negative. Global stocks have had a terrible December (S&P 500 and Dow are down 10% and 12% in in the month) as issues such as the ongoing US-China trade dispute as well as the prospect of a US government shutdown have added to the pessimism. Following a slide on Wall Street in yesterday’s session, Asian markets have traded lower, with European stocks following suit on opening.”

Notably, on the other side of the Atlantic, the British FTSE opened higher after falling to a 28 month low earlier in the week. Nonetheless, Mr Kapadia forecasts that with the outlook for UK growth remaining slow, the fall of consumer confidence to five-year lows, and the increasing likelihood of a No-Deal Brexit, the index is now down 0.5%.

In parallel, another reference market with direct implications in CPI worldwide, the oil markets, is also going through rough times. They have edged higher after the lows of the previous session, but investors are unsettled by the biggest weekly drop in a month.

“With global demanding falling and the economic growth expected to slow in 2019, the oil markets are likely to remain volatile and unpredictable. Most traders in the are sceptical as to how much OPEC and its allies can help cut output in the short term,” ended Mr Kapadia.