Taking stockle
INVESTOR’S NOTEBOOK: SA’s equities had highest real return over past 116 years
And just to lift our spirits, note that our short-term numbers (that is since 2000) are also the best, at 8.2% in the Credit Suisse Investment Returns Yearbook
In the 1960s the then Chinese prime minister Zhou Enlai was asked what he thought the impact of the 1789 French Revolution had been. His reply was that it was too early to tell. It’s an interesting answer, but no joke. Even today those events in Paris more than 200 years ago have echoes in events as diverse as the Arab Spring and the debate over the SA constitution. I think that every time somebody asks if equities are a good investment, or if one market is better than another, the right answer is always that it is too early to tell.The Credit Suisse Investment Returns Yearbook does not go right back to 1789, though the first stock exchange as we know it opened in Amsterdam in 1602 and London opened in 1698. New York’s Wall Street began its long trek to notoriety and decadence only in 1792, a few years after George Washington was sworn in as the first US president. From a start with zero market share, the US now has a 53% share of global markets. Even in 1900 it had just a 15% marke...
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