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US and European market indices slide

07 November 2008 08:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev - APA-Economics. US stocks were hammered for a second day in a row on Thursday as global markets plunged on fears of a deep worldwide recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 443.48 points, or 4.85 per cent, to settle at 8,695.79, nearly matching a 486-point slide on Wednesday.
The Nasdaq slumped 72.94 points, or 4.34 per cent, to 1,608.70 and the Standard & Poorâ€™s 500 index lost 47.89 points, or 5.03 per cent, to a settle at 904.88.
Among technology stocks, Cisco lost 2.6 per cent after saying current quarter revenues wouldnâ€™t meet consensus estimates. The company also announced a freeze on hiring.
Elsewhere in the sector, Microsoft closed 5.4 per cent lower, Hewlett-Packard dropped 7.2 per cent and Apple fell 4.1 per cent. Google was down 3.2 per cent and Yahoo! edged 0.5 per cent lower.
Also, Citigroup dropped 9 per cent, Bank of America was down 7.5 per cent and JPMorgan slid 2.5 per cent.
American Express, Visa and MasterCard were down 10 per cent, 8.6 per cent and 8.2 per cent respectively.
Blackstone Group shed 12.2 per cent after posting a US$340 million quarterly loss. A year ago, the private equity firm posted a US$113 million loss.
European stock markets closed sharply lower on Thursday on growing fears the world economy faces a deep and long lasting recession as the global financial crisis saps growth.
Londonâ€™s FTSE 100 index of leading shares lost 258.32, or 5.70 per cent to 4,272.41 points.
The German DAX lost 353.3, or 6.84 per cent, to 4,813.57 points.
The CAC 40 fell 230.86, or 6.38 per cent, to 3,387.25 points.