How an ageing population is driving the decline in equities

(Original source Financial Times)

“Corporate share buybacks in the US have reached a post-crisis high. This matters, because the trend of declining stock volumes on the global stock markets could prove destabilising for the capital markets. According to the Wilshire 5000 index, the number of tradeable stocks on US bourses now stands at around 3,691, down from 6,639 in 2000.

The de-equitisation of the capital markets reflects changes in the dynamics of demand and supply, driven not just by tactical — and thus reversible — shifts, but more worryingly by changing demographics. The latter are structural, deeply entrenched and arguably irreversible.”

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