watch

Recent market falls Share markets fell last week with the Australian market experiencing one of its worst weeks since August 2011 (when people thought the EU would break up). Negative returns in any given period can happen in the share market with this week standing out for its severity. However, we also see historically shares have lost value in approximately 22 weeks out every 52 weeks since 1980. It is not a rare thing to see in the share market. Shares lost money because a rise in Covid-19 (a.k.a. coronavirus) cases outside of China saw investors sell out of shares and look to safer assets such as bonds or gold. This is because efforts to combat the virus will likely see travel, trade and business activity either slow or shut down temporarily. That would see weaker demand for goods and services, so business profits and wages are likelier to struggle in the short term. Major movers in Global Markets [...]