Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
£3trillion pensions headache
Worst day FTSE fall since Brexit vote
MILLIONS of workers saving for retirement may be hit by a shares slump that has wiped nearly £3trillion off global stocks.
The FTSE 100, the index of the UK’S biggest listed firms, yesterday suffered its worst one-day fall since the aftermath of the 2016 Brexit vote.
It fell 193 points to 7141.4, the lowest since April last year.
There were other big sell-offs in other markets around the world, from Asia to the US.
The sharp falls have been fuelled by speculation that the US central bank will raise interest rates, increasing borrowing costs for households and businesses in the world’s biggest economy.
That followed stronger than expected wage growth in the US.
Workers here could be hit if the stock market turmoil persists, given many pension funds invest heavily in stocks and shares.
But experts urged caution as the declines since late last week partly reversed last year’s strong rally.
One analyst described it as “the storm after the calm”.
Tom Mcphail, pensions expert at Hargreaves Lansdown, warned pension scheme members from drawing down funds for now.
He added: “Pension investors should generally focus on the long term, rather than worrying about short term market movements, up or down.” Jacob Deppe, from online trading firm Infinox, said: “While the fall in global equity markets looks dramatic, it is no more dramatic than the record rises we have seen since the end of November.
“For that reason alone many would argue a correction was on the cards.
“The party may be over for now but this could be more of a sobering correction than a rout.”
The FTSE All World Index, which includes most stock markets, has fallen 5.6% since last Friday, wiping almost £3trillion off its value of £42.3trillion.