Major markets across the world were sliding Friday with low confidence leading to near-record lows in the United States.
European stocks were taking a beating as investors become increasingly anxious over the state of the global economy. Mining and banking shares fell sharply with mining giant Anglo-American leading the losses. Anglo-American’s profit fell nearly 30 percent in 2008 and it has anounced 19,000 job cuts this month in an attemp to fight deteriorating conditions. London’s FTSE 100 hit a three-month low. By mid-afternoon it was down about 3 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris was down about 3.5 percent Frankfurt’s DAX 30 slid nearly 4 percent — dragged down by shares in Commerzbank — and Zurich’s SMI was also on the slide. U.S. markets also saw a sharp selloff in the morning session led by a lack of confidence in the financial sector. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial index slumped below the 7500 level Thursday closing at a six-year low — and continued spiraling down Friday. Approaching noon in New York, the Dow and the S&P 500 were both about 1.5 percent down with the latter market nearing recent lows. Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics, said the European markets were down on weak manufacturing data, and Wall Street was following their lead, despite the $787 billion stimulus package that was signed by President Obama earlier this week. “Never have so few spent so much and expected so little,” said Brusca. Asian stocks tumbled to a close Friday, with Tokyo’s Nikkei index down 1.9 percent and the Honk Kong’s Hang Seng falling 2.5 percent. Gold prices, meanwhile, hit $1,000 an ounce for the first time since last March.
