Asia and European markets fall hard, DOW futures cut off at -550
Posted on October 24th, 2008 by bile Tags: America, Daiwa Institute of Research, Federal Reserve System, Francis Lun, Fulbright Securities, Hirokazu Yuihama, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Murray N. Rothbard, oil prices, oil supply, Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries, Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries, Shanghai, South Korea, United StatesJapan’s Nikkei 225 Average sank 9.6% to end at 7,649.08, a closing level it hasn’t seen since April 29, 2003. The benchmark is now valued at less than a fifth of its all-time high of 38,915.87, which it touched in December 1989.
“There is a complete loss of confidence and it was brought on by the decline in Japan,” said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. “We are going back to the stone ages.”
South Korea’s Kospi index dropped even more, plunging 10.6% to close at 938.75, registering its first fall below the 1,000-point level since June 30, 2005.India’s Sensitive Index hit the day’s bottom at 8,566.82, a level it hasn’t seen since November 2005, before ending down 11% at 8,701.07.
During the tumultuous week, the Nikkei lost 12% and the Sensex shed nearly 13%, while the Kospi sank more than 20%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, which ended below the 14,000-point level a day earlier, fell past even the 13,000 milestone during the session for the first time since October 2004. The index ended down 8.3% at 12,618.38.
“I don’t think the turmoil will be finished any time soon. I think it’ll continue this quarter and the next. It’s very difficult to see the bottom in the near-term,” said Hirokazu Yuihama, head of regional strategy at Daiwa Institute of Research in Shanghai.
U.S. stock futures tanked early Friday as fears of recession deepened a global market rout.
Dow Jones industrial average futures were down more than 500 points at 5:30 a.m. ET. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were also down sharply.
Oil. Also, the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries, which controls 40% of the world’s oil supply, announced on Friday that it would cut production by 1.5 million barrels a day, from its current level of 29 million.
OPEC had intended to raise prices by reducing production. But after the announcement, oil prices dropped $3.24 a barrel to $64.60 in electronic trading.
And the likely next president wants to increase spending, increase taxes, create makework projects and his party is talking about getting rid of 401k’s. Not that the other asshat is much better… but…
Just read America’s Great Depression [PDF]… I say it a lot but it is really important information to know.
I’ve gotten 2 people at where I work to read The Case Against the Fed. One of them told me it was likely the most depressing book he’s ever read. Implying his agreement with the books prime argument he said that the reason for his negative feeling was due to the fact Rothbard’s solution will never be implemented or even considered. Just yesterday I traded info on books with another coworker who may now be checking out The Case Against the Fed and/or America’s Great Depression. This is the opportune time to speak about this topic to people. Take advantage of it if you can.
