Equities worth risk in the long run

THERE is no doubt that recent weeks have been extraordinary ones on international equity markets.

Last week alone, when the media coverage of all things equity-related appears to have reached a crescendo, the daily, nay, hourly, swings were, to use one of last week’s favourite adjectives, and which by no means overstates the position, violent.

Taking our own ISEQ index, the market started the week at 4,209 points and finished the week at 4,081 - an overall decline of 3% which, to be fair, is quite a large movement in investment assets in the course of just one week. The figure for the week masked the tempestuousness of the swings throughout the week - Monday down 3.2%; Tuesday down a further 2.5%; Wednesday yet another slip of 3.7%; Thursday up 2.25% and Friday a relatively meek rise of just under 1%. In the United States and across Europe the outcome was equally dramatic.