Friday, October 24, 2008

Stock markets in free fall on gathering global gloom

LONDON: World stock markets plunged deep into negative territory Friday as gloom gathered over the global economy and dismal corporate news left investors stunned.

"Everyone is staring at their screens in disbelief," said Tom Hougaard, chief market analyst at City Index.

On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 4.69 percent to 8,287.36 in the first 10

MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks Come Back From Day's Lows After Sharp Plummet

By Kate Gibson

U.S. stocks came off their worst levels but remained deeply mired in red Friday, and headed for weekly losses as energy shares fronted broad-sector declines after a global sell-off in equities on fears of worldwide recession.

"I opened my trading platform this morning and thought I must be at a funeral, " said Charles Perry, president of Perry Management, an energy-consulting firm. "But the market seems to be firming now."

After dropping 420 points, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) trimmed its decline, recently off 260.37 points, or 3%, to 8,430.88, far off an intraday low of 7,773.7 hit two Fridays ago, and setting it up for a weekly drop of 4.8%.

All but one of the blue-chip index's 30 components posted midday declines, with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) digging out of negative terrain, recently up 1% following its report of a small profit gain for the September quarter. .

General Motors Corp. (GM) fell the most, down nearly 14%.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stock Indexes Finish Off Lows But Still Plunge For Week

By Kate Gibson

U.S. stocks on Friday rallied back from stiff losses to end mostly lower after the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded in a 1,000-point range in the final session of its worst week ever, as shaken investors looked for intervention from a meeting of global finance ministers.

The indexes had lunged sharply lower for an eighth straight day, with the Dow industrials sliding nearly 700 points at the start to fall under 8,000 for the first time since 2003 as fears escalated that the trauma in the credit markets could be paving the way toward a global recession.

In Washington, finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven nations are meeting, with economists looking to the gathering for coordinated measures to encourage banks to resume lending to each other. .

MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks Seek Relief From G7

By Nick Godt

U.S. stocks will enter next week with investors either comforted or disappointed by the meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers, who have gathered in Washington D.C. to address the global financial meltdown and its implications for the world's economies.

"I don't know what the G7 can do exactly," said Robert Pavlik, investment strategist at Oaktree Asset Management. "But if they can come out with a positive statement, after all this is a gathering of some of the most qualified people out there, then that will help market psychology."

Several hours after the close of trading Friday, G7 ministers and central bank governors pledged to work together to make sure that large important financial institutions do not fail. In a brief "plan of action" released after their meeting, the G7 said that the current market turmoil calls for exceptional action.

At the top of the list were unfreezing credit and money markets, ensuring banks can raise capital from the private sector, ensuring that deposit insurance regimes were robust, and repairing secondary mortgage markets where appropriate.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

UPDATE: RBA slashes rates by full point, says big move necessary

By Chris Oliver

HONG KONG (Dow Jones) -- The Reserve Bank of Australia cut its benchmark policy interest rate by a percentage point to 6.0% from 7.0%, citing disarray in global financial markets and mounting evidence of a sudden deceleration in economic growth among Australia's major trading partners in Asia.

"The Board judged that a material change to the balance of risks surrounding the outlook had occurred, requiring a significantly less restrictive stance of monetary policy," Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement Tuesday accompanying the rate decision.

Stevens said conditions in international financial markets had taken a significant turn for the worse in September, adding that obtaining financing is likely to be difficult around the world for some time to come in spite of efforts by central banks to unfreeze credit markets through liquidity injections.

"Economic activity in the major countries is also weakening, and evidence is accumulating of a significant moderation in growth in Australia's trading partners in Asia," Stevens said.

The governor also said consumer price inflation will likely accelerate to 5% on year in September but could begin easing in 2009.

"The recent deterioration in prospects for global growth, together with much more difficult market conditions even for creditworthy borrowers, now present the risk that demand and output could be significantly weaker than earlier expected. Should that occur, inflation would most likely fall faster than earlier forecast," Stevens said.