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US markets go too low

23 October 2008 08:32 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev - APA-Economics. The rise of dollar, decline in interbank lending rates and a drop in metals and crude oil prices would generally lift investors sentiment. But, investors focused on economic slowdown and declining profit at industrial, mining and energy companies. Dollar rise against and euro.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 514.45 points, or 5.69%, to 8,519.21.
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 58.27 points, or 6.1%, to 896.78 - its lowest closing level since April 2003.
The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 80.93 points, or 4.77%, to 1,615.75 - its lowest closing level since June 2003.
Trading volume was low on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.56 billion shares changing hands - below last year’s estimated daily average of roughly 1.90 billion.
About 2.57 billion shares were traded on the Nasdaq - above last year’s daily average of 2.17 billion.
European shares slumped again on Wednesday, led by bank and energy stocks.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares ended down 5.5% at 873.30 points. The index has lost around 18% to date this month.
Banks were most affected: Spain’s largest bank, Santander, fell 10.5% on concerns over Latin American economies. Spain’s second-biggest bank, BBVA, was down 5.5%.
The Spanish stock index closed down 8.16% at 8,995.30 points.
In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 5.10% to 3,298.18 while in Frankfurt, the Dax fell 4.46% to 4,571.07.
In London, the FTSE 100 index shed 4.46% to close at 4,040.89. The index is down 37.4% for the year to date.
Markets in Asia fell sharply on Tuesday. In Japan, the Nikkei fell by almost 7%.