Global stock markets recorded their strongest year since 2019 following a blistering two-month rally, as investors bet that big central banks have finished raising interest rates and will cut them rapidly next year. The MSCI World index, a broad gauge of global developed market equities, has surged by 16 per cent since late October and is up 22 per cent this year – its best performance for four years.
That has largely been fuelled by Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index, which has risen 14 per cent since October and 24 per cent on the year, ending Friday – the last trading day of 2023 – just shy of its all-time record. The gains have been driven by a dramatic shift in interest rate expectations following a slew of recent data showing inflation falling faster than expected in western economie