‘I’ve never seen anything like it’: 2020 smashes records in global markets

2020 has been the most remarkable year for the global financial markets. After the Covid-19 pandemic triggered the worst crash in a generation, unprecedented stimulus measures and vaccine breakthroughs have sent stocks roaring back to record highs. In a year in which at least 1.7 million people died from coronavirus and unemployment soared in a global recession, world stock markets are ending 2020 up 13% – despite the latest surge in cases forcing further lockdowns this winter. The year began with immediate drama, when the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani was killed in a US drone strike at Baghdad airport, sending oil prices higher and markets lower. But fears of Middle East conflict soon took a back seat as troubling reports of an unidentified pneumonia-like illness in Wuhan, China, emerged. By the start of the Lunar New Year in mid-January, at least 26 people had died. Beijing’s stock market plunged 8% in its worst rout in more than four years when it reopened after the holiday, amid a scramble to shut cinemas, suspend travel, close factories and make people work from home. Weeks later, as the virus spread, the shock that the Lombardy region in Italy was imposing its own lockdown… Read full this story

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