Structural breaks in global stock markets: Are they caused by pandemics, protests or other factors?

Abstract

The study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global events on the global stock market, focusing on 16 countries of the world using quarterly data ranging from 1919Q1 to 2020Q2. While selected sample countries in Europe have at least ten break dates under the period of investigation, the US, Canada and Australia, have only twelve break dates. Asia and the other bloc of countries report ten and twelve break dates respectively. One most prominent cause of structural changes in stock markets (with the exclusion of Germany) appears to be from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), which had inverse effects on major markets around the world. The most prominent source of structural breaks in the Asian markets appears to be from the 2008–2009 GFC. In addition, we found evidence of structural breaks in several stock markets in the world, resulting from the 2009–2010 Global Pandemic.