The Finnish Center for Pensions has updated their global retirement age chart for 2022. As in the previous version, the average retirement age in the EU is 65 but is set to increase in 67 in some countries due to higher life expectancy and other factors. Countries such as the Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden and …
The S&P 500 is up by over 17% year-to-date on price return basis. In the past 5 year, the index has had an annualized return of 10.52% which is very good. Though equity markets are soaring after a brief lull for the past few months it is always important to keep an eye on the …
Continue reading ‘The Largest Real Declines in U.S. Stock Market History: Chart’ »
I have written many times in the past on the impact geopolitical crises on equity markets. The overwhelming research shows that markets are more driven by other factors such as earnings, interest rates, inflation, recession, etc. than crisis events. You can find some of the past posts here and here and here and here. Recently …
Continue reading ‘Market Impact of Major Military Conflicts’ »
State-owned companies control most of the world’s oil and natural gas reserves. It is a common misconception that the publicly listed western oil giants like Exxon Mobil(XOM), Chevron(CVX), Shell(SHEL), BP(BP), Total SA (TOT), etc. are the oil and gas giants. Together these companies have even earned the moniker “Big Oil”. However that is not true. …
Continue reading ‘The Largest Oil and Natural Gas Companies in the World by Reserves’ »
The Israel-Hamas war of 2023 started with the attack on Israel by Hamas on Saturday, October 7, 2023. The impact of the current crisis on equity markets in the US have been muted. Oil prices have not moved much as well. This is understandable since Israel is not a major producer. Oil producing countries in …
Continue reading ‘Historical Stock Market Reactions to Geopolitical Crises Involving Israel’ »