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World stock markets decline

24 February 2010 08:49 (UTC +04:00)

BakÄ±. Vahab Rzayev - APA-Economics. U.S. stock markets fell sharply on Tuesday after data showed that consumer confidence in the United States had dropped far further than expected in February, forexpros.com reported.

During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.63%, the S&P 500 index slipped 0.95% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.18%.

Earlier in the day, the Conference Board published its monthly consumer confidence index, which tumbled to 46 in February from 55.9 in January. Economists had expected a far less significant drop to 55.

Stock markets in Europe also reacted badly to the data: Franceâ€™s CAC 40 was down 1.35%; Germany’s DAX fell 1.42%; Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.66%; and the EURO STOXX 50 slipped 1.66%.

Also Tuesday, data showed a slightly larger-than-expected fall in U.S. home prices in December, prompting investors to cut exposure to risky assets. The S&P/CS Home Price Indices Composite dropped 3.1% compared to the previous fall of 5.3%. Analysts had expected the reading to only drop 3%.