What a difference a month makes. Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider, announced that the world's developed and emerging markets shook off a fear-provoking month of March with impressive returns in April. According to Standard & Poor's monthly global stock market review, The World by Numbers, developed markets posted a 5.15% gain in April after losing 8.95% in March. Likewise, emerging markets climbed 7.49% in April after falling 5.11% the month before.

"Global equity markets reversed direction in April as optimism prevailed based on the hope and belief that the world, and especially the United States, is near the bottom of the problems facing the credit market," says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard & Poor's.

Developed world markets gained 5.15% in April versus a loss of 8.95% in March partially due to higher returns by Japan (+6.61%) and the United Kingdom (+5.85%). Twenty-four of the twenty-six markets were up for the month, with only slight losses posted by both Finland (-1.34%) and Denmark (-0.21%). While April produced only one double-digit developed market gain (Norway, +11.25%), the lower returns were accompanied by lower volatility.

After posting a 5.11% loss in March, emerging markets reversed direction and posted a strong 7.49% gain in April. Double-digit gains were posted during the month for both China (+15.10% after declining 12.36% in March) and India (+11.49% versus -12.35% in March). In all, six of the 26 markets posted double-digit gains, with sixteen markets increasing and ten declining. Turkey rebounded from its 20.09% loss in March to lead all markets with a 15.75% gain in April.

All ten sectors posted gains in April, an event not seen since October 2007 when many markets posted record high equity values. Energy profited the most in April posting a 12.05% monthly gain, with Materials (+6.61%) also strong during the month. Financials (+6.64%) rebounded during the month, but still remain off for the year (-16.03%). Consumer Staples performed the worst, posting a slight gain of 0.44%.

Growth stocks (+5.67%) outperformed Value (+4.61%) for the month of April. The variance, however, was much wider in the Asian-Pacific markets where Growth prospects looked better and produced a 9.00% increase versus 4.99% for Value. The trend was also noted in Japan (Growth +14.83%, versus Value +5.79%).