The first trading days of 2016 were almost the worst in modern history. The slump in stock indices and record losses caused panic in Wall Street as well as in Main Street. Ordinary people have lost count to losses incurred by global financial elite. Meanwhile, some experts believe that the current situation is not really grave. According to their ‘optimistic’ forecasts, the market has room to decline further. Some companies have already suffered enormous losses since the beginning of the year. Consumer-discretionary stocks, energy and telecommunications companies make up the worst three performers.
In Russia, the new business year has actually begun after New Year holiday week when the trading activity was very low. For example, the Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange in the first week of 2016 registered 1,756 trades of stocks of 54 issuers worth $5.5 million. At the present moment, though, there are chances that trading activity will gradually recover. Public holidays have ended for Russian market participants and now they regain their positions, analyze main economic indicators and try to determine which direction the market is headed for.
There is some positive news from the European and the US markets, where stock indices and index futures extended little gains. The US market, unlike the Russian economy, is not vitally tied to the oil prices and it can reveal slight growth in the short-term.
