More tech tantrums. China’s Covid surge. And above all, no central banks riding to the rescue if things go wrong. Reeling from a record $18 trillion wipeout, global stocks must surmount all these hurdles and more if they are to escape a second straight year in the red.
With a drop of more than 20% in 2022, the MSCI All-Country World Index is on track for its worst performance since the 2008 crisis, as jumbo interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve more than doubled 10-year Treasury yields — the rate underpinning global capital costs.
And in the US, we have the S&P 500 index being pulverized by Fed rate hikes to in their attempt to slow inflation.
And in the US, mortgage-backed securities and Treasury securities are also getting pulverized by inflation and Fed rate tightening.
We are now left with the leftovers like high inflation.