itsmeeeeeee

Stock rout deepens

Stock rout deepens - Yahoo! News

By Louise Heavens 1 hour, 39 minutes ago

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Stocks tumbled across Asia on Tuesday, and U.S. stock index futures sank, as panic gripped markets that a U.S. recession could derail global economic growth, sending investors fleeing to safe-haven government bonds.

Share markets from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Seoul and Sydney slumped around 5 percent, while industrial metals, such as zinc and copper, plunged and oil fell well below recent record highs.

"It's like a funeral in here," said Ken Masuda, senior equities dealer at Shinko Securities in Tokyo. "No one knows what's going to happen tonight in New York. It's like we've gone blind, you don't know what's coming.

"Until we see New York, all we can do is sell," he said.

The yen hit a 2-1/2-year high against the dollar as investors reduced their exposure to risky, higher-yielding assets. The strong yen hit Japanese exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and Sony Corp (6758.T).

"I'm sure we're in a bear market, because the mood is very negative. People no longer believe that stocks are the road to riches," said Cannae Capital Partners managing director Hugh Giddy. "This may be a long slow grind down because earnings expectations will start to fall."

MSCI's All Country World Index fell 1 percent to its lowest since November 2006 after European shares tumbled nearly 6 percent on Monday, their biggest one-day slide since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

MSCI's Emerging Market index, which on Monday had its worst daily fall since August, shed 2.3 percent.

Japanese treasuries surged as alarmed investors sought the relative safety of government debt. March 10-year futures rose 0.31 point to 138.77 after earlier touching 138.94, the highest since September 2005.

U.S. equity markets, shut on Monday for a holiday, ended Friday with their worst weekly performance since mid-2002, while Asian and European stocks dropped sharply on Monday, with investors unconvinced by Washington's proposed $150 billion fiscal stimulus package.

U.S. stock index futures fell around 5 percent, presaging a sharp sell-off on Wall Street later.

Billionaire investor George Soros said the world was facing the worst financial crisis since World War Two and the United States was threatened with recession, according to an interview with the Austrian daily Standard.

"We really do have a serious financial crisis now," Soros was quoted as saying.

Japan's Nikkei (.N225) fell 4.4 percent by the midsession, to a two-year low. The index has shed around 17 percent this month alone as fears deepened that the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis will drag global financial markets lower.

South Korea's technology stocks, heavily dependent on the U.S. export market, were mauled, pushing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (.KS11) down 3.8 percent to its worst level since May. The KOSPI has lost around 14 percent so far this year.

Hong Kong blue chips (.HSI) tumbled 5.5 percent, with U.S. recession fears dragging bellwether bank HSBC Holdings (0005.HK) to lows not seen since October 2003.

Hong Kong-listed shares in mainland companies (.HSCE) sank 7 percent. The Hang Seng Index (.HSI) is down about 30 percent since a recent peak in late October and off 19 percent this year.

A common definition of a bear market is a fall of around 20 percent over a recent period or from a recent peak, characterized by a pessimistic outlook.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index (.AXJO) shed 4.8 percent to record its 12th straight session of declines. It hit a low of 5,290.5 -- its lowest intraday level since October 2006.

Mining stocks, sensitive to any economic slowdown, led the decline. BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) fell 4.7 percent and Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) tumbled 8.7 percent.

Oil deepened losses as global stock markets tanked. London's Brent crude fell 16 cents to $87.35 a barrel by 0300 GMT, while U.S. crude traded down 2.3 percent at $88.52 a barrel.

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MarkMiller

Someone tell me when we hit "Depression"

Thanks G.W. Bush!

itsmeeeeeee

in an unprecedented move - the fed just slashed interest rates 3/4 of a point!!!!

update: even with the cut - futures remain 300 pts. down at this point.

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Dianekkdi

I just heard CNN in the background mention as much as -500 today.

Seriously, I wont' be buying any stocks today.

Silver and gold are falling as well. I say give them a few more days too maybe--it's hard to say. Who knows...Experts? Weather forcasters? Me?

Silver is the best buy right now. It's $15.55/ounce. It might drop to --$15.25. Hard to say because the metals seem to bounce back pretty quickly these days. Regardless, it will recover nicely in a month or two and be back on its way to $20/ounce.

It's a cheap safety haven. I know others don't believe it -- but I like it. I only discovered it about two and a half years ago and have done very well. It's interesting, it' fun, and my dollar keeps its value.

I just sold a whole bunch of 90% silver (coins -- silver .50 cents pieces, silver dollars, silver dimes, etc...) The great thing about coins is that you are buying and selling money and it is non taxable. Yep, no tax. I like coins.

See Kitco Buy price It is their "sell to kitco" section. They give you the going price on junk silver. Yesterday it was around $9.50 to $1.00 face value.

I'll be looking to buy right back in shortly.

Recession/Depression?

Times are tough and getting tougher. Be careful out there today.


Major Fed cut being broadcast now.

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Reinvestigate 9/11
Impeach......Prosecute......Imprison

"...The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed...."
--Thomas Jefferson

itsmeeeeeee

it's hard to get updated futures numbers this morning... but last i got was futures are STILL down over 200 pts.

here's some additional earnings reports:

Bank of America Corp. said its fourth-quarter earnings fell sharply amid credit losses and weak investment banking results. Profits at the bank declined to $268 million, or 5 cents per share, from $5.26 billion, or $1.16 per share, a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Wachovia Corp. said its fourth-quarter earnings fell 98 percent after the bank wrote down $1.7 billion in the value of certain portfolios and set aside $1.5 billion to cover bad loans. Earnings fell to $51 million, or 3 cents per share, from $2.3 billion, or $1.20 per share, a year earlier.

Bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc (ABK.N) on Tuesday reported a quarterly loss of $3.3 billion after credit derivative losses totaling $5.2 billion.

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Heretic

Which will do jack shit. The reason is that interest rates aren't even the start of the real problem. It's disparity and the way costs rise far faster than income. You can't fix that with a rate cut. It's the ironic side effect of greed in the corporate boardroom coupled with the worst tax cutting policies this country has ever seen [worse than Reagan's, and that's hard to do].

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"In space no one can hear you scream. in D.C. it won't matter..." -Clinton Resurrection: The Alien Queen lives!

itsmeeeeeee

more earnings:

Chemicals maker DuPont said Tuesday fourth-quarter earnings fell 37 percent from a year earlier...

United Airlines parent UAL Corp. reported a $53 million loss for the fourth quarter...

Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc. said Tuesday it expects weaker first-quarter profit because of continued volatility in nickel prices and limited production capacity....

Regional bank KeyCorp said Tuesday its fourth-quarter earnings plummeted 83 percent due to rising loan-loss provisions.



within a couple of minutes the dow has still dropped 450 pts.

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Richterscale

Well, just about everybody saw this day coming a long time ago. How many years have we heard the same message that no economy can sustain a constant cycle of 'borrow and spend'?

But self-aggrandizing politicians, interested only in how to buy their next votes, corporations leveraged into insanity, and consumers (God I hate that term) mortgaging their overvalued homes to finance unsustainable lifestyles, just happily ignored the warning signs.

And I just saw Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson on MSNBC saying that the American Economy was on firm ground or some equally ridiculous lie.

Nine trillion dollars of national debt, and a nation of idiots with pockets full of plastic who spend more than they earn, is NOT the bedrock of a healthy economy.

Woops! Wrong again, Darth...

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Google Sibel Edmonds

"How many people died from the Kama Sutra as opposed to the Bible? Who wins?" - Frank Zappa

Heretic

Well, this is one war in which the Jr. Administration managed to score a victory: the war against the American economy. Jr.'s going out of his way to destroy our future and now our present.

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"In space no one can hear you scream. in D.C. it won't matter..." -Clinton Resurrection: The Alien Queen lives!

Heretic

Okay, now the sharks have moved into the stock market. There's a massive buy up taking place, and the fact it came so quickly should be just as disturbing as the huge sell-off preceding it. It means that unscrupulous corporations and brokers are buying in order to later destroy jobs.

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"In space no one can hear you scream. in D.C. it won't matter..." -Clinton Resurrection: The Alien Queen lives!