The stock market had one of its worst weeks in more than two years, with the benchmark S&P500 off 3.5% for the week, including a 1.6% drop on Friday. Overseas, markets fared even worse, with the FTSE100 down 6.6% for the week, 2.5% of which came on Friday.
The equity markets’ fall was precipitated by data showing slowing growth across the board, including in the all-important Chinese economy. Global economic data also sent oil prices into a continued tailspin. The benchmark US crude, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), closed below $58 for the first time since May 2009. WTI had been trading as high as $112 as recently as last summer.
All the negative market sentiment has not stemmed the continued rise in the shares of payment services company SafeCharge (SCH.L), which closed above £2.50 for the first time since SafeCharge’s IPO in March. SafeCharge traded up 4.3% on Friday, culminating an 8% rise for the week. Investors who bought into SafeCharge’s IPO back in March at £1.62 are now up 57%.
SafeCharge share price IPO-present. Source: Google Finance.
We’re still a few weeks away from getting more insight into how SafeCharge actually did financially in the second half of 2014. However investors are clearly expecting some nice results. We’ll soon see.