The last week of September 2023 has been highly disappointing for investors worldwide. All the major stock market indices across the US have been highly bearish; the same goes for the European and Asian markets, barring a few exceptions.
| Global Indices | Weekly Change (%) |
| Dow Jones | -1.34 |
| S&P 500 | -0.74 |
| Nasdaq | 0.06 |
| FTSE | -0.99 |
| CAC | -0.69 |
| DAX | 1.-10 |
| GIFT Nifty | -0.15 |
| Nikkei 225 | -1.68 |
| Straits Times | 0.39 |
| Hang Seng | -1.37 |
| Taiwan Weighted Index | 0.23 |
| KOSPI | -3.70 |
| SET Composite | -3.36 |
| Jakarta Composite | -1.10 |
| Shanghai Composite | 0.84 |
US Markets
The US inflation rise and the probability of another Fed rate hike by the end of the year have been eating away all the gains from the market. Liz Young, head of investment strategy at SoFi, said, “There’s more risk to the downside, at least in the near term.” [CNN]
- Dow Jones: The broad market index fell by 1.41% in the past week and is currently at 33507.50. UnitedHealth and Travelers Companies pulled down the index the most. While the former dropped by 1.15%, the latter dropped by 2.56%. Most of the index’s components were red this week, with few exceptions. These stocks include Nike, which gained 6.72%, and Intel, which rose by 1.05%. [Moneycontrol]
- S&P 500: Similar to Dow Jones, S&P 500 also dipped this week; however, the drop was 0.77%. The top gainers stocks on this index in the last five trading days were Nike Inc., with a gain of around 6.68%, followed by VF Corp., which gained around 6.51%. Amongst the top losers was Carnival Corp, with a dip of around 4.99%, and Schlumberger Ltd. By 4.33%. [Moneycontrol]
- Nasdaq: While this broad market index didn’t decrease, it went up only by 0.01% during the period. Blue Apron was one of the top-performing stocks of this index for the week, which gained 109.69% during the week. On the other hand, mCloud Technologies Corporation lost 45.77% and became one of the top losers of the week in the US market.
European Markets
The overall European market has also been sluggish during the past week. However, here, the reasons are different from the US market. The inflation level has been at an all-time low since October 2021. However, the geopolitical scenario and rising interest rates have worsened the market. The broad market indices of European nations performed poorly during the week.
- FTSE: This index fell by 0.99% during the week. Some of the top performing stocks on this exchange this week was JD Sports Fashion PLC, with an increase of 4.80%, followed by Severn Trent PLC, with a 4.42% rise. Coming to the worst performing companies, Hargreaves Lansdown PLC fell by 2.05%, along with Shell PLC.
- CAC: This index dropped by 0.69% during the week. The companies that gained the most include Unibail-Rodamco, Teleperformance, and Legrand. They increased by 3.8%, 3.47%, and 2.11%, respectively, during the end of the week. On the other hand, Total Energies SE lost 2.06%, while Safran lost 0.81%.
- DAX: Fell by 1.10% during the week over recession fear and rising interest rates.
Build your well-diversified portfolio
Create wealth now!
Build your well-diversified portfolio
Create wealth now!
Asian Markets
Asian Market performed comparatively better than the other two counterparts did. Increased treasury yields and crude prices have primarily led the mixed performance.
- Shanghai Composite index gained the highest during the week. It went up by 0.84% during the period.
- Straits Times gained 0.39% during the week
- Taiwan Weighted Index also gained around 0.23% during the week
- GIFT Nifty, on the other hand, lost 0.15%
- The biggest losers were SET Composite, down by 0.36%, and KOSPI by 3.70%.
Wrapping up
September has been tough for investors worldwide, and the last week was no different, especially those in the US. The markets are volatile and plunging due to increasing oil prices, inflation, or interest rates.
I’m Archana R. Chettiar, an experienced content creator with
an affinity for writing on personal finance and other financial content. I
love to write on equity investing, retirement, managing money, and more.