Towards the end of a cycle? (2006)

In the last months of 2006, the world stock exchanges experienced a sustained growth trend, which brought the indices to their peak. Eurispes has tried to summarise this by comparing the performance of the main index over a one-month and four months. In the last thirty days of November, most indices showed a slight increase, with a few positive exceptions (Milan General: +2.2; Nasdaq: +1.9; Hong Kong: +3.3) and negative ones (London: -1.5; Paris -0.9; Tokyo -3.1). The four-month picture is quite different, with all the stock exchanges monitored by Eurispes showing sustained growth in all indices, ranging from +3.3 in London (the most modest increase) to 15.9 in New York’s Nasdaq, which achieved the most brilliant result. The loss of speed in growth is also evident when looking at the performance over the last week. The Milan Stock Exchange index seems to have taken a downward slope after having reached the highest level in the previous five years in the week from 10 to 20 November, losing almost two percentage points in less than a week. However, we certainly can’t call it a trend.  Indeed, as early as Thursday 30 November, the index showed signs of recovery along with the leading European stock exchanges. While all stock exchanges have been growing since July, the increase has not been the same for all.