MSCI World

The MSCI World is a stock index that reflects the performance of the stocks of 23 developed countries worldwide.

Calculation

The MSCI World Index is one of the major stock indices in the world. It is calculated by the U.S. financial services provider Morgan Stanley Capital International in three variants, as a price index, as a performance index excluding withholding taxes and as a performance index with consideration of withholding taxes. The release date is usually the price index.

The Index includes over 6,000 stocks from 23 countries: Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Austria, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore, Spain and the USA.

The MSCI World is 1969 ( initial value: 100 points ) since December 31 charged. Shares from developing countries ( emerging markets) and shares of small companies (small caps) are not considered. Its counterpart is the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which reflects the performance of stocks in the emerging markets. An index of developed and developing countries, including small businesses into account, is the MSCI All Country World Investable Market Index ( ACWI IMI), with approximately 8,500 securities from 45 countries.

Due to the capital- moderate dominance of U.S. markets in the global market capitalization presented on January 11, 2013 Title from the USA 52.44 % of the MSCI World Index. By comparison, Europe presented 28.51 % (of which the UK 9.7%, France 4.05% and 3.76% Germany ); Japan has a share of 8.47%. The index is thus strongly dependent on the U.S. stock market development.

The index as a benchmark

Worldwide equity funds, the MSCI World Index serves as a benchmark ( Benchmark ). When comparing the performance of an equity fund with a global index, the price chart of the fund should ( Price Index ) of the World Index and the performance chart of the Fund with the Performance Index ( Gross Dividend Total Return Index ) of the World index are compared to the price index.

But only the price index of the world index is frequently published and then compared with performance charts of equity funds. In order, however, the dividend payments in equity funds are taken into account in the global index does not, so the results will be incorrect and the stock fund performs better than a correct comparison.

The equity funds are ( such as costs of administration and transactions ) are deducted, unlike the index, usually charges from the unit value, which reduces their performance (performance). However, the fees are not a reason to take into account the dividends from the fund and not the world index. As a result, by the fees of the Fund are to be compared with the dividends of the world index would indeed equal. Fees and dividends but both qualitatively and quantitatively very different things, which can not be mixed.

History

20th century

The MSCI World launched on 31 December 1969 with a base value of 100 points. On May 25, 1970, the World Index closed at 77.91 points. Until 11 January 1973 the MSCI rose by 73.0 percent to 134.81 points.

During the oil crisis of 1973 and the global recession of 1974, the index fell to 10 December 1974 to an all time low of 73.15 points. This was a decline from January 1973 to 45.7 percent. On August 27, 1987, the MSCI ended trading at 495.87 points, up by 577.9 percent higher.

On Monday, October 19, 1987, in the U.S., the Black Monday occurred. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22.6 percent. The stock market crash spread quickly to all major international trading centers. Until 26 October 1987, the MSCI World stock market prices had dropped by 23.7 percent. The index finished the day trading at 378.35 points.

In the following years, the MSCI marked numerous record highs. On 10 January 1989, the index closed at 501.92 points for the first time on the 500 - point mark on 10 February 1998 with 1000.83 points for the first time above the limit of 1,000 points. Until 27 March 2000, the MSCI rose to a high of 1448.76 points. The gain since October 1987 is 282.9 percent.

21st Century

After the bursting of the speculative bubble in the technology sector ( dotcom bubble ) and following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the World index fell to a low of 710.79 points to 12 March 2003. That was a decline since March 2000 by 50.9 percent. The April 12, 2003 marked the end of the descent. As of spring 2003, the MSCI was back on the way up.

On 24 January 2007, the index ended trading with 1505.98 points for the first time surpassed the mark of 1,500 points. On 31 October 2007 the MSCI World with a closing level of 1682.35 points, an all time high. That was in March 2003, an increase of 136.7 percent.

In the course of the international financial crisis in the U.S. real estate crisis originated in the summer of 2007, the index began to fall again. From the 3rd quarter of 2008, the crisis had an increasing impact on the real economy. As a result, stock prices plummeted worldwide. On 9 October 2008, the MSCI ended with 958.04 points below the limit of 1,000 points. A new low was achieved by the Index on March 9, 2009, when he finished trading with 688.64 points. This represents a decline since October 31, 2007 by 59.1 percent. It was the biggest downfall in the history of the MSCI World.

The March 9, 2009 marked the turning point of the descent. From the spring of 2009, the index was back on the way up. Until 29 April 2011, he rose by 101.6 percent to a closing level of 1388.62 points. The slowdown in the global economy and the intensification of the euro crisis in 2011 led to a fall in the MSCI. On October 4, 2011, the index ended the day at 1074.50 points. The loss since its peak on 29 April 2011 amounted to 22.6 percent. The announcement of new bond purchase programs of the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve in principle unlimited extent led to a recovery of prices in the stock market. The monetary stimulus played a greater role in price formation, as the global economic slowdown and the position of the company. On January 11, 2013, the index closed at 1381.94 points, up by 28.6 per cent as on October 4, 2011.

Highs

The overview shows the all-time highs in the MSCI World.

Milestones

The table shows the milestones of the MSCI World since 1969.

Annual development

The table shows the annual performance of the MSCI World since 1969.