Interesting article on Brexit and its implications in the latest edition of Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Here is a chart showing the options available for UK:
Click to enlarge
The full article is worth a read..
Source: After Brexit, Here’s What’s Next for Europe, Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Volatility is normal in equity markets. The dramatic selloff that followed Brexit and the reversal in the past few days is a classic example of this phenomenon.
Even in good years stocks can experience gut-wrenching declines. Ultimately the annual returns or long-term returns matters most than dramatic declines in a short-time. The following table shows the annual returns and the intra-year declines of the FTSE All-Share Index:
Click to enlarge
Source: Why ‘Brexit’ could be a blip in stock market history, Citywire UK
From the article:
The red dots in the chart show the maximum fall in each year since 1986, the bars the annual move in the All-Share index. Despite average falls of nearly 16% at some point the index delivered positive returns in 21 of the past 30 years.
So the key takeaway is investors should not get scared by sharp declines on specific days or even in a short time period. Stocks can swing wildly up and down during the course of a year. Selling out during the panics hoping to buy back is not a wise strategy.Instead of worrying about short-term price movements investors are better off focusing on their long-term goal and the investment return over a year or many years.
Canal in UK
Earlier:
Knowledge is Power: Remain Calm, Gun Laws, Behaviorial Finance Edition
The MSCI Frontier Markets Index includes from the countries that are less developed than emerging countries. Frontier markets include countries like Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Estonia, etc.
The MSCI classification of countries for the various indices they provide are shown in the chart below:
Click to enlarge
Note:
2. The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) consists of the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. Currently the MSCI WAEMU indices include securities classified in Senegal, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.
Source: MSCI
I recently learned that the French-speaking countries in West African countries have their own common stock exchange called the West African Regional Stock Exchange from an article in The Wall Street Journal. The following are key points from that piece and my research:
The top 20 companies by market cap as of Dec, 2015 are shown below:
Sources:
Big Number, WSJ, May 17, 2016
BVRM, Wikipedia
Companies listed on the Exchange, BVRM
West African Regional Stock Exchange Site
Related ETF:
Disclosure: No Positions
The current US map looks like this:
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Source: Wikipedia
But back in the 1800s the country looked much different. All the states were not yet formed and many were simply grouped as territories. For example, the middle of the country had the “Indian Territory”.
The following is a cool map of the USA from 1839:
Click to enlarge
Source: University of Texas Libraries via Daily Infographics