STOCKMARKETS

STOCKMARKETS Our chart shows the market capitalisation and the prospective dividend yield (the ratio of the expected dividend to the share price) of the companies tracked by I/B/E/S International, a financial-information firm, in 15 countries. The capitalisation figure does not necessarily match the total value of all shares in quoted companies, because I/B/E/S covers only shares commonly followed by financial analysts; the yield refers only to firms for which there are data on expected earnings. In the past three years, the world average of share prices to expected earnings (on which prospective dividends are based) has been on a rising trend. Expectations of corporate Japan's earnings fell in the past three months: its prospective yield is the joint-lowest in the chart.