Off the mark

Since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 1999, professional forecasters have never once predicted a down year.

Their optimism is being challenged after the two-month sell-off erased almost $4 trillion (Dh14.6 trillion) in equity values and trimmed the S&P 500’s year-to-date gain to 3.2 per cent. With only four weeks left for 2018, their projection for the index to hit 2,942 looks like a long shot.