FACTBOX-Record misery for some markets in October

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - October has been a month of records on financial markets, many of them unwelcome. Here are a few of them:

STOCK MARKETS

-- MSCI's all-country world stock index <.MIWD00000PUS> was down 19.9 percent for the month. It was the largest monthly fall in the benchmark's 20-year history in its current form.

-- Despite losses on Friday, however, the index was up more than 11 percent for the week of Oct. 27 to 31, scoring the best performance in the 20 years.

-- MSCI's emerging market index <.MSICEF>, down around 28 percent in October, was having its worst month since August 1998, during the Russian debt crisis.

-- October also saw the worst monthly performance ever for Japan's Nikkei average <.N225>. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> fell 12.7 percent on the month, its biggest monthly fall since September 2002. The U.S. S&P 500 <.SPX> posted its worst monthly performance since the October 1987 Wall Street crash. -- The VIX index <.VIX>, which measures volatility on the S&P 500 through options, hit its highest level since at least 1990 during the month.

CURRENCIES

-- The dollar index <.DXY>, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies, had its strongest month since March 1991, up nearly 8 percent.

-- The euro had its worst performance against the dollar since the single European currency's inception in 1999.

-- The dollar fell around 7 percent against the Japanese yen , the largest monthly fall since December 1998.

-- Sterling saw its biggest monthly drop against the dollar since 1992 when the pound was forced out of the European Union's exchange rate mechanism.

FIXED INCOME

-- The TED spread between three-month U.S. deposit rates and three-month Treasury bills hit a record wide of about 464 basis points on Oct 10, according to Morgan Stanley data.

-- Two-year euro zone bond yields hit a four-year low as investors piled in search of relative safety.

-- The yield curve between euro zone two- and 10-year government bonds hit its steepest level since March 2005 as the short-end outperformed longer-dated paper.

-- The investment-grade Markit iTraxx Europe index widened to an all-time record level on Oct. 24 and also had a record one-day increase.

-- The Markit iTraxx Crossover index , made up of 50 mostly "junk"-rated credits, also widened to an all-time record level.

COMMODITIES

-- The Reuters-Jefferies CRB index <.CRB>, a benchmark for global commodities, fell more than 22 percent in October, its worst month on record. The next worst month was September, when it fell 11.8 percent.

-- The price of New York crude oil fell more than 32 percent, setting up October as a record monthly slide.

INVESTOR CONFIDENCE

-- The State Street Investor Confidence index slumped in the month to its lowest level in the more than 10 years it has been compiled. [IDn:nLL107364]

-- Reuters monthly asset allocation polls showed equity holdings by leading investors at the lowest level in the 4-1/2 years data has been compiled from U.S, European, UK and Japanese fund management firms. Cash levels were at their highest. [ID:nLU396019]

-- Merrill Lynch's monthly fund manager survey was deemed by the company to be the most pessimistic in its 10-year history. [ID:nLF276641]

-- Risk appetite for equities based on UBS's internal calculations hit the lowest level in the 16 years it has been compiled.