Which countries were hit the hardest on Brexit Friday? The answer might surprise you and many others to be honest. One would logically be expected to assume that UK stocks were hit the hardest as it is Britain that is at the epicenter of this entire saga. Furthermore, the GBP is the hardest hit asset (beta adjusted basis), so it would only make sense if UK equities suffer the same consequence.
But no. As we show in this chart, the FTSE 100 (UK benchmark equity index) was actually the BEST PERFORMING equity market in the entire of Europe. While at the lows the FTSE 100 was about -9% lower, it staged an insane and almost unbelievable bounce from the lows to 'only' close down -2.7%, beating all other of its European peers. We couldn't believe our eyes either.
The rhetorical question of how can British stocks be the best performers after such a monolithic event as Brexit (which we have said time and again was unprecedented any way we looked at it). So welcome to the demented world we leave in, where a country most effected by a crisis I'd supernatural proportions turns out to be least damaged (at least in terms of its stock market performance).
But no. As we show in this chart, the FTSE 100 (UK benchmark equity index) was actually the BEST PERFORMING equity market in the entire of Europe. While at the lows the FTSE 100 was about -9% lower, it staged an insane and almost unbelievable bounce from the lows to 'only' close down -2.7%, beating all other of its European peers. We couldn't believe our eyes either.
The rhetorical question of how can British stocks be the best performers after such a monolithic event as Brexit (which we have said time and again was unprecedented any way we looked at it). So welcome to the demented world we leave in, where a country most effected by a crisis I'd supernatural proportions turns out to be least damaged (at least in terms of its stock market performance).