When Tesla chief Elon Musk overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person for the first time last September, Musk told Forbes he was “sending a giant statue of the digit ‘2’ to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal.” Nearly eight months later, neither man is likely in a joking mood.
The U.S. stock market rout this year has seen to that, taking a massive chunk out of public company values. With inflation surging and interest rates rising throughout the first half of 2022, stock markets are facing some of the worst starts to a year in history. The S&P 500 just posted its seventh straight week of losses, its longest down streak since March 2001. And the Nasdaq just ended its worst month (April) since October 2008.
