S&P 500 Turnover Exceeds $2.9 Trillion for the First Time in a Decade

Analysts are beginning to take note of a concerning development in the market— extremes in market turnover. Trading is through the roof in many major market indexes and across asset classes.

-In the S&P 500 index alone, investors traded more than $2.9 trillion worth of shares since the beginning of the year—a level last seen in early 2008, right before the financial crisis really hit.

JP Morgan Chase strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a note, “Market turnover tends to be high when uncertainty is high, as institutional investors continuously reshuffle their portfolios. Negative growth revisions coupled with political and policy risks including the Italian crisis and trade war risks are creating a lot more uncertainty this year relative to last year.”

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