Standard & Poor's announced that the world's equity ended the month of April in positive territory, their second consecutive month of positive gains. According to Standard & Poor's global stock market review, The World By Numbers, the world's developed equity markets gained 4.44% in April while emerging stock markets rose 4.56% for the month.

"World equity markets turned sharply higher in April, buoyed by stronger than expected earnings and a perceived belief that U.S. internationals have started to realize gains from their global operations," says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard & Poor's. "In spite of the upturn, world concern grew in April over a myriad of U.S. situations such as the declining dollar, the largest drop in home sales since January 1989 (8.4%) and the slowest GDP gain in four years (1.3%)."

26 of the 27 developed world equity markets posted gains in April with an average return of 6.61%; Japan was the lone decliner, down 1.93%. France however had a notable increase for the month, posting an 8.05% gain versus 3.45% in March. The emerging markets were equally positive for the month, with 22 of the 25 groups posting positive gains averaging 7.68%; Jordan (-1.63%), Russia (-2.43%) and Taiwan (-1.07%) were the decliners. For April, India increased substantially, posting a 13.15% gain versus 3.58% in March.

All 10 GICS sectors showed gains in April, led by Health Care and Information Technology which both performed better on an ex-U.S. basis. Marine issues grew globally (11.60%, 12.32% Ex-U.S.) while REITs posted the smallest gain (0.67%, 1.40% Ex-U.S.) due to greater concern over the U.S. housing market.

World interest rates remained steady for the month with The People's Bank of China raising its deposit reserve to 10.25%. Commodity prices mostly declined in April, but Livestock increased with a one-year change of 16.1%.