05-08-2011, 12:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-08-2011, 12:57 PM by newborn1000.)
Bloomberg
Asian Stocks Drop Most Since March
By Shiyin Chen - Aug 5, 2011
Asian stocks fell the most since March, extending a global rout, and the region’s bonds gained, while commodities dropped for an eighth day amid concern the U.S. economic recovery is petering out.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index tumbled 3.8 percent at 12:41 p.m. in Tokyo, set for its largest weekly decline since October 2008. Standard & Poor’s 500 futures slid 0.1 percent following yesterday’s 4.8 percent slump. Japan’s 10-year bond yield sank to this year’s low and the yen reversed earlier losses, a day after intervention by Japan. S&P’s GSCI Index of raw materials was set for its longest decline since December 2008, paced by losses in oil, zinc and wheat.
More than $4.4 trillion have been wiped out from equity market values worldwide amid a sell-off that drove the MSCI All- Country World Index down more than 10 percent from this year’s high into a so-called correction. The U.S. added 85,000 jobs last month, leaving the 9.2 percent unemployment rate unchanged, according to economists surveyed before data today that will cap a week of economic reports that showed the recovery is slowing.
“Investors are coming to grips with how dramatically the global and U.S. economies have slowed in recent months,†Russ Koesterich, the San Francisco-based global chief investment strategist for the iShares unit of BlackRock Inc., said in a Bloomberg Television interview. His firm oversees $3.66 trillion as the world’s largest asset manager. “What’s really troubling investors is that given the fiscal austerity in Europe and the U.S. and the fact that interest rates are already at zero, it’s not clear what steps governments can do to get us out of this.â€
Stocks Slump
Just 12 of the MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s 1,018 members gained as the gauge extended its weekly loss to 8 percent. That will be the steepest one-week drop since October 2008, when credit markets froze following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brother Holdings Inc. a month earlier.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average sank 3.5 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plunged 4.8 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slumped 4.1 percent. Benchmark indexes for South Korea and Taiwan as well as the MSCI Asia Pacific Index also entered corrections today. Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (13), controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, dropped 8.5 percent after it reported first-half profit that missed analyst estimates.
The MSCI All-Country World Index dropped 1 percent, extending its drop from a May 2 high to 14 percent. Among the 24 developed nation markets tracked by Bloomberg, only Iceland’s benchmark stock gauge has eked out gains this year.
The S&P 500 dropped 60.27 points to 1,200.07 yesterday, taking its losses this week to 7.1 percent, following data that showed manufacturing expanded at the weakest pace in two years, spending unexpectedly fell and the services industries grew at the slowest pace since February 2010.
‘Panic Attack’
The S&P 500 may rise 40 to 50 points as markets are now “extremely oversold,†said Marc Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report. Still, prices won’t rise to new highs this year, he said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management’s emerging markets group, said today equities are “looking better†amid the turmoil roiling global markets.
“It’s a panic attack from fear that growth is dropping off a cliff,†said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage the equivalent of $1.7 billion at Sydney-based Platypus Asset Management Ltd. “There was an expectation that resolution of the U.S. debt- ceiling issue would trigger a relief rally. It looks like everyone forgot about the weakness in the underlying economy.â€
Today’s payrolls figures will follow the June increase of 18,000 jobs, the smallest this year. Concern the recovery is faltering drove investors to seek refuge in Treasuries, sending 10-year yields down 22 basis points yesterday to 2.40 percent. Yields were little changed today.
Asia Bonds
Japan’s 10-year bond yields slid to as low as 0.985 percent, the least this year. Australia’s 10-year rate fell to 4.42 percent, a two-year low. The yield on South Korea’s 3.5 percent bonds due June 2014 fell 11 basis points to a seven-week low of 3.63 percent, according to prices from Korea Exchange Inc.
The Markit iTraxx Asia index of 50 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan rose 11.5 basis points to 135 basis points, according to Credit Agricole CIB. That will be its highest close since Aug. 31 last year and the biggest daily increase since May 25, 2010, according to prices from CMA, which is owned by CME Group Inc.
The Markit iTraxx Australia index rose 17.5 basis points to 141.5 basis points, according to Deutsche Bank AG. That’s on course for the highest close since June 10 last year and the biggest daily increase since May 19, 2010, according to CMA.
Yen, Aussie
The Dollar Index slipped 0.1 percent, retracing part of yesterday’s 1.7 percent rally. The U.S. currency traded at 78.58 yen from 78.89 yen yesterday, when Japan unilaterally sold its currency to stem gains. The greenback was at $1.4098 per euro, compared with $1.4092 yesterday.
The Australian dollar was little changed at $1.0476 after the Reserve Bank raised the outlook for inflation to 3.5 percent from a previous prediction of 3.25 percent. The central bank also forecast growth in 2011 will average 2 percent, down from its May 6 estimate of 3.25 percent.
Oil for September delivery fell 1.3 percent to $85.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures are dropping for a sixth straight day and have erased this year’s gains. Wheat dropped 1.7 percent to $7.135 a bushel, while corn retreated 1.4 percent to $6.92 a bushel. Copper for three-month delivery declined 0.8 percent to $9,285 a metric ton in London, while zinc fell 2.1 percent to $2,281.50 a ton, set for an eight-day plunge.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shiyin Chen in Singapore at schen37@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
If you all have been slacking, now is the time to do hardwork.......if a recession happens, it's time to go shopping!!!!
Hope to see many familiar nicknames there =)
Asian Stocks Drop Most Since March
By Shiyin Chen - Aug 5, 2011
Asian stocks fell the most since March, extending a global rout, and the region’s bonds gained, while commodities dropped for an eighth day amid concern the U.S. economic recovery is petering out.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index tumbled 3.8 percent at 12:41 p.m. in Tokyo, set for its largest weekly decline since October 2008. Standard & Poor’s 500 futures slid 0.1 percent following yesterday’s 4.8 percent slump. Japan’s 10-year bond yield sank to this year’s low and the yen reversed earlier losses, a day after intervention by Japan. S&P’s GSCI Index of raw materials was set for its longest decline since December 2008, paced by losses in oil, zinc and wheat.
More than $4.4 trillion have been wiped out from equity market values worldwide amid a sell-off that drove the MSCI All- Country World Index down more than 10 percent from this year’s high into a so-called correction. The U.S. added 85,000 jobs last month, leaving the 9.2 percent unemployment rate unchanged, according to economists surveyed before data today that will cap a week of economic reports that showed the recovery is slowing.
“Investors are coming to grips with how dramatically the global and U.S. economies have slowed in recent months,†Russ Koesterich, the San Francisco-based global chief investment strategist for the iShares unit of BlackRock Inc., said in a Bloomberg Television interview. His firm oversees $3.66 trillion as the world’s largest asset manager. “What’s really troubling investors is that given the fiscal austerity in Europe and the U.S. and the fact that interest rates are already at zero, it’s not clear what steps governments can do to get us out of this.â€
Stocks Slump
Just 12 of the MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s 1,018 members gained as the gauge extended its weekly loss to 8 percent. That will be the steepest one-week drop since October 2008, when credit markets froze following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brother Holdings Inc. a month earlier.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average sank 3.5 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plunged 4.8 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slumped 4.1 percent. Benchmark indexes for South Korea and Taiwan as well as the MSCI Asia Pacific Index also entered corrections today. Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (13), controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, dropped 8.5 percent after it reported first-half profit that missed analyst estimates.
The MSCI All-Country World Index dropped 1 percent, extending its drop from a May 2 high to 14 percent. Among the 24 developed nation markets tracked by Bloomberg, only Iceland’s benchmark stock gauge has eked out gains this year.
The S&P 500 dropped 60.27 points to 1,200.07 yesterday, taking its losses this week to 7.1 percent, following data that showed manufacturing expanded at the weakest pace in two years, spending unexpectedly fell and the services industries grew at the slowest pace since February 2010.
‘Panic Attack’
The S&P 500 may rise 40 to 50 points as markets are now “extremely oversold,†said Marc Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report. Still, prices won’t rise to new highs this year, he said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management’s emerging markets group, said today equities are “looking better†amid the turmoil roiling global markets.
“It’s a panic attack from fear that growth is dropping off a cliff,†said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage the equivalent of $1.7 billion at Sydney-based Platypus Asset Management Ltd. “There was an expectation that resolution of the U.S. debt- ceiling issue would trigger a relief rally. It looks like everyone forgot about the weakness in the underlying economy.â€
Today’s payrolls figures will follow the June increase of 18,000 jobs, the smallest this year. Concern the recovery is faltering drove investors to seek refuge in Treasuries, sending 10-year yields down 22 basis points yesterday to 2.40 percent. Yields were little changed today.
Asia Bonds
Japan’s 10-year bond yields slid to as low as 0.985 percent, the least this year. Australia’s 10-year rate fell to 4.42 percent, a two-year low. The yield on South Korea’s 3.5 percent bonds due June 2014 fell 11 basis points to a seven-week low of 3.63 percent, according to prices from Korea Exchange Inc.
The Markit iTraxx Asia index of 50 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan rose 11.5 basis points to 135 basis points, according to Credit Agricole CIB. That will be its highest close since Aug. 31 last year and the biggest daily increase since May 25, 2010, according to prices from CMA, which is owned by CME Group Inc.
The Markit iTraxx Australia index rose 17.5 basis points to 141.5 basis points, according to Deutsche Bank AG. That’s on course for the highest close since June 10 last year and the biggest daily increase since May 19, 2010, according to CMA.
Yen, Aussie
The Dollar Index slipped 0.1 percent, retracing part of yesterday’s 1.7 percent rally. The U.S. currency traded at 78.58 yen from 78.89 yen yesterday, when Japan unilaterally sold its currency to stem gains. The greenback was at $1.4098 per euro, compared with $1.4092 yesterday.
The Australian dollar was little changed at $1.0476 after the Reserve Bank raised the outlook for inflation to 3.5 percent from a previous prediction of 3.25 percent. The central bank also forecast growth in 2011 will average 2 percent, down from its May 6 estimate of 3.25 percent.
Oil for September delivery fell 1.3 percent to $85.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures are dropping for a sixth straight day and have erased this year’s gains. Wheat dropped 1.7 percent to $7.135 a bushel, while corn retreated 1.4 percent to $6.92 a bushel. Copper for three-month delivery declined 0.8 percent to $9,285 a metric ton in London, while zinc fell 2.1 percent to $2,281.50 a ton, set for an eight-day plunge.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shiyin Chen in Singapore at schen37@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
If you all have been slacking, now is the time to do hardwork.......if a recession happens, it's time to go shopping!!!!
Hope to see many familiar nicknames there =)