World Stock Markets Tank, As Dow Poised for Massive Drop

 

Today was a good day for the NYSE to be closed.  It will be one of the few, if not the only exchange that didn’t lose value today. 

The Dow may open on Tuesday down over 500 points.

There is a sense in foreign markets that the plan as outlined by President Bush late last week to stimulate the US economy is too little, too late.  There are also fears that the US housing crisis could trigger a global recession. 

CNN recapped the staggering loss in overseas markets today:

“Markets in Europe reacted with London’s FTSE 100 Index down 5.5 percent at 5,578.20; the CAC-40 in Paris down 6.8 percent to 4,744.15; and Frankfurt’s DAX dropping 7.2 percent to 6,790.19. In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed on 13,325.954 points, a slide of 3.9 percent and its biggest dip in two years. Shanghai’s Composite index fell 5.1 percent. 

India’s Sensex stock index fell nearly 1,353 points or 11 percent — its second biggest percentage drop ever — to 17,605.35 points before recovering to 7.4 percent.

The Toronto Stock Exchange opened more than four percent down, falling by 543.13 points to 12,193.13 and taking around US $68 billion off the market’s value. A drop of 6.6 percent last week wiped out gains made by the market last year.  Elsewhere in the Americas, stocks in Mexico tumbled by 4.77 percent on opening while markets in Argentina and Brazil fell by 4.64 percent and 6 percent respectively.”