Now that it has come to a close, it's worth analyzing the effect the 2018 FIFA World Cup had on global markets.
With a viewership of more than 3 billion worldwide, the tournament had implications for the financial world that extended beyond just affecting trading volumes - though World Cups can have a sizable impact on trading volumes. During the last World Cup in 2010, for example, the number of trades made when the national team was playing fell by 45%, according to an ECB study of 15 international stock exchanges. An additional 5% drop in trading activity was recorded when a goal was scored.
Trading fell 38% in European countries and 43% in the US, but South America's trading suffered the biggest blow. Trading fell by 75% Brazil when its national team was playing and by 79% in Argentina. In Chile, trading all but ceased, falling an incredible 99% during matches involving the national team. Chileans were even more likely to focus on the pitch rather than the pit during matches involving other countries.
According to Joshua Mahony, a market analyst at IG London, football games can also dampen the impact that other major geopolitical events have on the market. For example, if US President Donald Trump made a major economic announcement, the German DAX would feel the repercussions less keenly if Germany were playing at the time, Mahony said.
The World Cup also has the potential to impact equities in more ways than one. The sponsors of this year's tournament, including Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), McDonalds (NYSE: MCD), and Visa (NYSE: V) for example, invariably received more exposure during the World Cup and saw their stock prices rise as a result. In fact, there has been much debate over who got more exposure this time during the matches: Nike (NYSE: NKE) or Adidas (Xetra: Ads).
Of the total 150 goals scored leading up to the finals, Nike cleats were worn for 94 of them.
Analysts estimate Adidas likely spent close to $100 million on sponsorship in 2014 - when Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in overtime. Nike also reported a 36% surge in marketing costs that year, with much of it attributed to the World Cup.
Macquarie retail analyst Andreas Inderst says, "You see an immediate return with jerseys. If a certain team wins the World Cup then of course you want to buy the jersey," he said. There is a second wave of sales around the semi-finals and finals, then a third wave after the final.
France is in for some good news as The World Cup-winning country typically sees its stock index outperform global indices by 3.5% over the following month, according to a recent Goldman Sachs report. However, the boost is a short-lived affair, fading significantly after three months. In fact, the winning country actually underperforms the following year, according to the report. The report also found that report found seven of the last nine losing World Cup finalists suffer a "post-final bout of the blues," underperforming by 5.6% over the following three months.
A 2010 study by Israeli researchers found that, on average, the US stock market falls 2.6% during the World Cup, with below-par returns in 14 of the previous 15 tournaments.