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Investment

Historical valuation data for global stockmarket indices

Long-term historical data on price/earning ratios, price/book ratios and dividend yields for stockmarket indices is extremely valuable in looking at long-term returns – but it can be very difficult to obtain. While price data is available for many major markets stretching back decades or more, valuation data typically hasn’t been recorded so carefully.

The figures that are available have usually been reconstructed from old earnings reports and are proprietary data sets that are expensive to access. For those who are willing to pay, Global Financial Data is probably the most comprehensive source for very long-term financial data of all kinds.

For those who can’t justify the cost of paid-for data, there are a few freely downloadable data series for some of the major indices around the world, although they are often hard to find and there is no consistency about which markets are available. The following links will take you to the ones I’ve found that are still updated  – if you’re aware of any others, please let me know in the comments below or by email.

Categories
Investment

Is the S&P500 really 40% overvalued? – CAPE, equity q and intangible assets

Of all the tools we have for valuing the stock market, the cyclically adjusted price/earnings ratio (CAPE) and the equity q ratio are the most credible, with long histories and sound theory behind them. And right now, these suggest that the S&P500 is around 40% overvalued.

This isn’t quite as expensive as the market was in 2000, but it’s up there with other peak valuations over the past century. What’s more, stocks haven’t been consistently cheap for almost two decades, according to the same metrics. Even during the worst of the 2008-2009 panic, the market only briefly dipped below fair value.

That stands in sharp contrast to the usual stockbroker chatter that equities are cheap, but there’s no question which verdict investors should take more seriously. However, the degree and persistence of this overvaluation certainly raises some questions.

Few investors who look at CAPE and equity q seemed to have considered whether these measures could be giving us the wrong signals. But if you dig into the details, it seems very plausible that they could be making the S&P500 look more expensive than it is – although it’s still difficult to conclude that US stocks are cheap.