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more than China’s current gross domestic product.
1
In broad nancial and economic terms, the past
decade has been an aberration.
Yet it has been a pro table one for investors.
Since its mid-crisis low in early 2009, the
S&P 500 has tripled in value – in the third quarter
alone it rose by 3.96% and crested above 2,500
points for the rst time in its history. Corporate
earnings season provided plenty of support, as
energy, technology and nancial results struck
new highs, and more than 70% of S&P 500
companies beat expectations.
The US economic recovery continued – it is
now the third-longest on record.
2
Moreover,
although the dollar completed a six-month run of
Thequarterly report
26
|
THE INVESTOR
The third quarter marked 10 years since the start of the
financial crisis, and saw central banks just beginning to
move on, says CIO Chris Ralph
THE INVESTOR CENTRE
M
any anniversaries are merely
incidental, of interest only
to reporters lacking a good
story – not this one.The ninth
of August 2017 marked
10 years since the beginning of the global nancial
crisis, and neither the global economy nor
nancial markets can yet be said to have emerged
from its shadow.
At the start of the crisis, the o cial UK interest
rate had never dipped below 2% since the founding of
the Bank of England in 1694.Today, that rate is just
0.25%.More importantly, however, central banks
around the world have injected $15 trillion into
nancial markets over the past 10 years – signi cantly
Tenyears later
Chris Ralph
Chief Investment O cer,St.James’s Place
End of Q3
2017
The FTSE 100
rose by
0.82
%
Eurofirst 300
rose by
2.24
%
Japanese Nikkei
rose by
1.1
%