Global equity markets remained highly volatile today, with stocks experiencing extreme swings.
The FTSEurofirst 300 Index fell by 5 percent this morning before recovering to just -0.3 percent after lunch following a strong rally in European stocks.
Earlier in the day, Australian stocks pulled off an afternoon rally to end the day up 0.99 percent, although the Nikkei still fell 1.68 percent and the Hang Seng ended up down 5.66 percent.
US futures initially showed a sharp plunge but have now recovered as investors await a statement from the Fed later today.
Today’s volatility follows steep declines yesterday as markets got their first chance to digest the downgrade of US debt by Standard & Poor’s on Friday.
Over the last eight days, stock markets have seen their biggest falls since the 2008 financial crisis as investors fretted over sovereign debt and slowing global growth.
The global turmoil is affecting IR departments around the world in different ways. Some report an increase in calls from management and the investment community in response to events, but for others things are relatively quiet.
One UK IR professional put the latter situation down to people assuming that the share price is being affected more by the macro picture than anything company-specific.
