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Why is the UK FTSE so low?
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sevenhills
Posts: 5,938 Forumite


Just comparing different countries stock markets, which is not something I know much about.
UK FTSE all share is at the same level is was at in 2018
The USA stock market was at 28,11 in 2018 and is now at 45,526
The German DAX40 was at 11,715 in 2018 and is now at 15,205
So although many have had good profits this year from the FTSE, it is low compared to the USA and Germany. Have other countries seen good increases post 2018?
The UK has suffered more than some countries due to COVID, but are there more issues?
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There will be a variety of reasons behind lower UK performance, ranging from our withdrawal from a large trading bloc through to the number of UK companies that yield higher dividends than foreign peers, which distorts raw index performance but levels the playing field more when comparing on a total return basis.
The comparison isn't necessarily about poor UK performance but higher than average US growth, with its tech sector booming, especially during Covid, but it's only to be expected that markets will move at different rates, which is why it's important to diversify, unless you have reason to believe that you can pick the winners in advance....4 -
Because it's full of old industries. It's less than 2% tech.0
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Tick ‘dividends re-invested’ and the FTSE will show a much better performance, albeit still lagging behind other regions."If you aren’t willing to own a stock for ten years, don’t even think about owning it for ten minutes” Warren Buffett
Save £12k in 2025 - #024 £1,450 / £15,000 (9%)2 -
There's been a negative mantra towards UK stocks generally for a while.1
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Good UK companies get hoovered up by private equity or foreign ownership.I’m sure this is gross generalisation but ARM, Morrisons, etc.1
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When you add in the dividends it's a different story but in general it has underperformed in recent years.
Ega6qmGXgAArfoQ (634×451) (twimg.com)
Try stretching the chart back to 5 years, 10 years then set to January 1986.
Chart Tool | Trustnet
It's never traded much above P/E of 15 as it's dominated by heavyweights which are slow growing.
1620982432961.png (751×437) (c-dn.net)
Although the likes of the SP 500 trade on a forward P/E of 20 many of it's constituents are similar stocks to FTSE stocks and they trade around 15. You would expect the FTSE stocks to trade at those valuations.
From headwinds to tailwinds – a reversal in fortune for the FTSE 100? | FTSE Russell
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The bounce back of the UK stockmarket is beginning to sound like the "interest rates will rise soon" and the "value rotation is just around the corner", waiting the the stopped clock to eventually get to the right time :-)2
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talexuser said:The bounce back of the UK stockmarket is beginning to sound like the "interest rates will rise soon" and the "value rotation is just around the corner", waiting the the stopped clock to eventually get to the right time :-)4
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Because the world runs on diesel,but Boris and co. think we can do it on wind and sunshine.0
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mumf said:Because the world runs on diesel,but Boris and co. think we can do it on wind and sunshine.
World produced 720 TWh of solar (estimated by IEA) in 2019, 260GW added capacity in 2020 alone and new renewable sources made up 80% of added capacity in 2020 with the amount of fossil fuel capacity added falling annually. China and the US continue to add loads of renewable fuel. It won't replace gas/oil yet but it's getting there with new turbine tech being launched every year - a Danish firm is trialling a 15MW turbine and a Chinese firm are testing a 16MW one
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