1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European markets tumbled on subprime worries.

European stock markets posted Friday the sharpest decline four years amid constantly growing concerns that a widening credit crunch may hurt economic growth and corporate earnings. Banks in Europe, Asia and the U.S. injected billions more dollars into the banking systems Friday in order to boost liquidity in global markets. Investors sold off financials stocks. Deutsche Bank, insurer AXA and hedge-fund manager Man Group were notable losers. The U.K. tumbled 3.7%, France dropped 3.1%, while Germany fell 1.5%. Ireland was one of the worst European performers, falling down 4.2%.

In Frankfurt Deutsche Bank posted a steep decline of 3.5%. Shares of Dutch bank ABN Amro fell 3.5% to 33.85 euros. Travel-related companies were hard hit, with Lufthansa falling down 3.6%.

In Paris stocks declined paced by financials. Societe Generale, the country’s second-biggest lender, fell 5%, while insurer AXA declined 3.4%. Elsewhere, power plants maker Alstom declined 7.3%. Cap Gemini, computer services company, slid 6.6%.

In London the world''s largest publicly traded hedge fund company Man Group slipped 9.1%. Insurance company Old Mutual Plc fell 5.9%. Mining companies moved significantly lower, as copper, nickel and zinc headed for a third straight week of declines. BHP Billiton Ltd. declined 6.7%, while Rio Tinto Group dropped 6.2%.


11:30AM Market averages tumbled, hurt by credit markets worries.

U.S. market averages continued to trade sharply lower but managed to pare some losses after the Fed Reserve made a second move Friday to ease the quell fears around the world by injecting another $16 billion into the market. Earlier, the Fed injected $19 billion and the ECB added another $83.6 billion, after Thursday''s $130 billion injection. The Bank of Japan on Friday added $8.5 billion.

Financial stocks posted significant losses, with brokerage and banks posting the biggest drop. Bear Stearns (BSC: chart) was down 4.6%, Merrill Lynch (MER: chart) lost 1.4% and Lehman Bros (LEH: chart) fell 2.6%. Countrywide Financial (CFC: chart) slid 8% after it said its allowance for credit losses climbed 97% from the end of last year. Crude oil dropped Friday, as credit-market worries escalated.

Crude for September delivery fell $1.21 to $70.40 a barrel. In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrials dropped 122.34, or 0.92%, to 13,148.34, adding to a 387-point plunge on Thursday. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index fell 9.54, or 0.66%, to 1,443.55, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 26.19, or 1.02%, to 2,530.30. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.74% from 4.79% late Thursday.


Import prices jumped 1.5% in July.

Friday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on import and export prices in the month of July. While the report showed a notable increase in import prices, export prices showed a much more modest increase. The report showed that import prices jumped 1.5 percent in July after rising 0.9 percent in each of the two previous months. The increase in import prices marked the biggest increase in prices since March.

A sharp rise in prices of petroleum imports contributed to the increase in import prices, with petroleum import prices surging up 7.0 percent in July following a 4.4 percent increase in June. Excluding petroleum imports, import prices increased by a much more modest 0.2 percent compared to a 0.1 percent increase in the previous month. As mentioned above, the report also showed that export prices edged up 0.2 percent in July following a 0.3 percent increase in June. The modest increase in prices was largely due to a 1.5 percent increase in prices of agricultural exports, which came on the heels of a 2.7 percent increase in the previous month. Excluding agricultural exports, export prices were unchanged in July.

11:00AM New York, 9:00PM Mumbai – Sensex in Mumbai fell sharply on the last day of trading, third weekly loss.

Sensex in Mumbai trading fell 231.90 points or 1.54% to close at 15,868.25 on weak trading sentiment. In the broader market 1,574 stocks fell, 1,127 increased, and 58 were unchanged. Rupee in international trading weakened to 40.63 against one dollar from 40.53.

Daily turnover on the Bombay Stocks Exchange increased to 5,196 crore rupees from 5,496 crore rupees. Of the thirty stocks in index, 22 lost ground while eight increased in value. Orbit Corporation followed by IFCI and DLF led the list of stocks on the most active in the trading today.

Tata Steel fell 2.4% on the news that the company will have to pay higher interest rate on its $1 billion loan for its recent acquisition of Corus in the UK. Egyptian government is reported to be in a deal with Reliance Industries to fund $10 billion of investment in countries oil and plastics infrastructure.

Bharti Airtel fell 3.6% to 838 rupees on heavy volume after reporting new subscriber growth of 2.1 million or 21 lakhs in July totaling to 44.8 million or 45 lakhs. Bharti stock led the decliners in the Sensex. Reliance Communication declined 2.4% after a day completing its private placement offer of $340 million in Reliance Telecom Infrastructure. The 5% private placement values the company at $6.75 billion.

Banks declined for the second day in a row. Bank of Baroda declined 1% after losing 5% to 295 rupees, 3.6% loss in Kotak Mahindra Bank to 740 rupees, and 1.6% decrease in Allahabad Bank to 90 rupees. Punjab National Bank fell 2.6% to 498 rupees. ICICI Bank dropped 2.9% to 865 rupees and HDFC Bank declined 2% to 1,132 rupees.