Don’t panic when markets crash — just grin and bare the bear

Investors across the world have recently suffered sharp losses — what questions should you be asking right now?

06 November 2018 - 17:30 By Iain Anderson

A September that shocked global investors was followed by an even worse October, with the MSCI All Country World Index recording a loss of 9.3% (in dollars) to October 26, its worst performance since the peak of the eurozone crisis in 2012. The index is down 5.8% on a year-to-date basis, while the FTSE/JSE SWIX Index is down 12.6% in September and October (in rand), and 15.8% on a year-to-date basis.
Before making any decisions, it is important to understand the key factors behind the sell-off.
Global growth concerns: 2018 started with a lot of optimism about “synchronised global growth”. This optimism has now evaporated. The IMF has cut its global growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019 by 0.2% to 3.7%. However, markets are signalling that the expectations of the slowdown are more severe...

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