Over $2 Trillion “Wiped Out” After Brexit: Friday Was the Biggest Single Day Loss Ever

Whatever your feelings on the victory for Brexit campaigners in the UK, and the ensuing drama in Europe, the referendum has taken a heavy toll on the economy.

There were massive losses last Friday before the markets closed, and more than $2 trillion in wealth was wiped out. Hundreds of the world’s richest lost as much as a billion dollars in just a day.

And the worst could be yet to come.

The unprecedented market chaos was even larger than that which precipitated the 2008 financial collapse.

via Reuters:

The $2.08 trillion wiped off global equity markets on Friday after Britain voted to leave the European Union was the biggest daily loss ever, trumping the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy during the 2008 financial crisis and the Black Monday stock market crash of 1987, according to Standard & Poor’s Dow Jones Indices.

Global markets skidded following the unexpected result from the June 23 referendum, in which Britons voted to withdraw from the EU by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin.

Markets in mainland Europe were hit the worst, with Milan and Madrid each down more than 12 percent for their biggest losses ever.

[…]

“People positioned themselves longer because they thought the market was going to pop,” he said. “We knew that we were going to sell off pretty hard and people were kind of shocked by the market.”

In dollar terms, Friday’s loss overtook the previous record from Sept. 29, 2008, the day when Congress rejected a $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street during the financial crisis. On that day, global markets lost $1.94 trillion.

As a result, Britain’s credit rating was downgraded, and investors are now waiting to see what will happen next, and whether or not things will spill over into further losses.

Many fear than an all-out recession could be underway.

Jeff Berwick of the Dollar Vigilante has gone so far as to argue that the Brexit collapse was planned by those at the top – with insider investments and plans for what became a massive, and quiet, bailout in British markets:

Lost in the headlines was that on Friday, Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, committed to printing up 250 billion pounds ($345.93 billion USD) to “support financial markets.”

No one has mentioned that or even seems to know about it. So, within hours, the banks in the UK appear to have received a massive 2008 style bailout… but without anyone noticing.

And, who profited?  People like George Soros, who moved into gold as his biggest position and shorted the markets just in the last few weeks.

Given this, I think it is safe to say that this was planned.

Who will ultimately benefit from this new crisis, and how widespread will its destruction be?

Only time will tell.

But there is good reason to think that the worst is not over, and that more financial disaster is underway.

Be watchful, and careful with your investments.