But the spread of fake news could inflict even deeper damage, further eroding investor confidence and potentially destabilizing the broader economy, the bourse said in a strongly worded statement over the weekend.
The PSE was referring to recent social media posts and reports claiming the market had lost up to P5 trillion in value since December last year.
The bourse quickly shut down the claim.
“Deliberately comparing apples to oranges by comparing Domestic MCAP (market capitalization) to Total MCAP is dishonest, if not malicious, and is clearly meant to provoke investors to lose confidence in the Philippine capital market and destabilize the economy,” the PSE said.
“We trust that the data provided in this statement will put an end to fake news about trillions lost in PSE’s MCAP this year,” it added.
Why does the market cap matter?
It’s easy for readers unfamiliar with finance to get confused.
Let’s break it down.
Market capitalization, or market cap, refers to the total value of all a company’s shares and serves as a key gauge of investor confidence and overall market health.
We generally like seeing market capitalization rise because it means investors’ wealth is growing and confidence is strong.
Lately, though, it’s been shrinking due to several factors: a slowing economy, global uncertainty, the pull of a robust crypto market, and corruption scandals rocking the government.
Tracking the market cap: it’s complicated
The market has indeed dropped, but this recent claim enormously overstates the fall.
The PSE explained that it tracks two types of market capitalization—domestic and total—and said misleading comparisons between the two fueled false claims of trillions in losses.
In reality, the domestic market cap lost P273.26 billion, or 1.88 percent, between December 2024 and October 2025.
When including foreign dual-listed firms like Manulife Financial, Sun Life Financial, and Del Monte Pacific, the total decline was P887 billion, or 4.43 percent.
The decline is still substantial, but nowhere near the exaggerated P5-trillion figure circulating online. This distortion is what the PSE is now calling out as misleading and harmful to market confidence.
Domestic market cap better reflects performance. Here's why
Total market capitalization is larger because it includes foreign firms such as Manulife, with a market cap of P2.9 trillion, and Sun Life, at P1.9 trillion.
But these shares are barely traded: the PSE said less than 1 percent of the insurers’ stocks and under 5 percent of Del Monte’s shares change hands locally.
That’s why the exchange considers the domestic market cap, which fell by a still significant P273.26 billion, as the more accurate gauge of the Philippine stock market’s health.
Still with us?
That’s a lot to digest, even for people casually invested in the stock market.
But the PSE is pushing back against fake news and recent claims by a “pseudo-expert on the stock market [who] advanced the preposterous claim that ‘the PSE has lost up to Php 5 trillion in market capitalization since December 2024.’”
The viral claim surfaced days after Securities and Exchange Commission chair Francis Ed. Lim apologized and retracted portions of a speech citing P1.7 trillion in market losses.
Despite the blunder, Lim earned praise for his swift response and display of accountability in addressing the mistake.
Investors are clearly hurting with the market’s weak performance, but fake news hurts them even more, and goes beyond the stock market to confidence in the country’s economy.
The PSE also sought cooperation from media establishments to combat disinformation “in this era where fake news is readily accepted as gospel truth.”
—Edited by Miguel R. Camus
