Foreign Markets
Global financial markets fell sharply Monday as the Obama Administration deemed the restructuring plans of GM and Chrysler unsatisfactory. In Europe, the FTSE 100 of leading British shares was down 86.27 points, or 2.2 %, at 3,812.58, while Germany’s DAX slumped 150.70 points, or 3.6 %, to 4,052.85. The CAC-40 in France fell 86 points, or 3 %, to 2,754.62.
Following Wall Street’s losses on Friday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average sank 390.89 points, or 4.5 %, to 8,236.08, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 663.17, or 4.7 %, to 13,456.33
U.S. Futures
Stocks in the U.S. are deep in the red in futures trading. Dow industrials futures fell 176, or 2.3 %, to 7,586. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 19.50, or 2.4 %, to 796.60, while Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 25, or 2 %, to 1,231.00. President Obama will be speaking at 11 a.m. to address the domestic auto industry. With no economic data released today, trading will focus on Detroit.
Markets fell on Friday giving back some of the hefty gains of the week. The Dow fell 1.9%, to 7,776.18. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2 %, to 815.94 and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 2.6 %, to 1,545.20. For the week, the Dow was up more than 6.8 %, the S&P 500 gained 6.2 % and the Nasdaq rose 6 %
Currencies and Commodities
The dollar traded at 96.867 yen, tumbling 1.02% in the currency market. The euro lost 0.6272% to $1.3207, while the pound depreciated 0.7856% to $1.4208 as investors head to the yen and dollar for safety as GM faces potential bankruptcy. Gold dropped $9.90 to $915.40 an ounce while silver fell 2.02% to $13.00 on the stronger dollar. Light, sweet crude for May delivery declined 3.09% to $50.76 a barrel on profit taking and renewed concern over economic growth.
Corporate News
General Motors (GM) CEO Rick Wagoner will step down from his post at the request of the White House according to administration officials. Wagoner had served GM in this capacity since 2003. His departure is part of an overall revamping of operations before additional taxpayer money is lent to the automobile manufacturer.
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Rhea
What is captcha code? I’m kinda new at this so I’m sorry if I don’t understand. Thanks in advance.
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