Bloomberg News reports that since the credit crunch began to push global markets down from their October 2007 peak, investors have lost $17.5 trillion in value. That's almost three times the $6 trillion in lost value following the collapse of the dot-com bubble in 2000.
Bloomberg developed its calculation by measuring the drop in the MSCI World index. It writes, "More than $17 trillion in global equity value has been wiped out since October. All 10 industries in the MSCI World retreated in 2008 as a drop in lending magnified the global economic slowdown."
To that lost $17 trillion I have added the $500 billion of writedowns and losses at global banks, a writedown figure expected to hit $2 trillion according to Nouriel Roubini.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.
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