What are we looking for?
We're exploring how to compare the world's stock markets without leaning on local benchmark indexes.
Luckily for Number Cruncher, Standard & Poor's set up their S&P Global Broad Market Index (BMI) in 1989 to do just this sort of thing.
Yesterday, we looked at what has been happening in emerging markets, and today we'll look at what S&P calls the developed markets.
How the screen works
S&P runs a screen annually to determine which companies meet the BMI index requirements.
S&P says that to make it onto the list, a stock must have at least $100-million (U.S.) of its shares available in the public market and at least $50-million worth of shares must have traded hands in the 12 months prior to the annual rebuilding of the index. The index builder also says that stocks are excluded if their market capitalization falls below $75-million.
All the stocks that make the grade are subsequently classified by size as large-cap, mid-cap or small-cap stocks - we've broken these out in the table so that you can see the breakdowns by member size.
Countries are classified as either emerging or developed based on S&P's evaluation of factors including macroeconomic conditions, political stability, legal property rights, trading conditions and feedback from institutional investors.
According S&P Indices, approximately 10,000 companies in 45 countries currently make up the S&P Global BMI.
What did we find?
The story in July, according to S&P senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt, was really one in which a sense of "tempered relief" over the sovereign debt crisis left investors in a buying mood. And buy they did - everywhere.
All the developed markets S&P tracks in the index ended the month in the black, with Spain and Greece both up more than 20 per cent.