4:00PM New York, 10:00PM Frankfurt, 8:00AM next day Sydney

European Markets

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 20.80 or 0.33% to 6,356.50, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 42.84 or 0.79% to close at 5,495.67 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 32.82 or 0.42% to close at 7,849.99. In Zurich trading SMI closed higher 205.82 or 2.54% to close at 8,316.39.

North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 238.42 or 1.86% to a close of 12,589.07, S&P 500 closed down 25.99 or 1.84% to 1,390.19, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 58.95 or 2.36% to a close of 2,440.51.

In Toronto TSX Composite lost 77.12 or 0.57% to close at 13,541.75.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 6 closed higher, 24 closed lower, and none was unchanged.

Alcoa led the decliners in the index for the second day in a row with a loss of 6.4% followed by declines in AT&T of 5.5%, in Hewlett Packard of 5.5%, in JP Morgan Chase of 4%, and in Citigroup of 3.9%.

Citigroup has steadily declined in the last six months and reached a six-year low.

Merck led the gainers in the index with a rise of 3% followed by increases in Altria Group of 1.4%, in Pfizer of 1.03%, in Coca Cola of 0.4%, in Procter & Gamble of 0.3%, and in Johnson & Johnson of 0.12%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 70 closed higher, 430 fell, and none were unchanged.

One hundred and sixty eight stocks fell more than 3% and six rose more than 3%.

Countrywide Financial led the decliners in the index with a loss of 29% followed by losses in MBIA Inc of 21%, in E*trade Financial of 20.50%, in Ambac Financial of 17%, and in Supervalu of 16.6%.

KB Home fell 9% after it reported larger than expected loss on a sharply lower revenue and taking a charge of nearly $500 million.

King Pharmaceuticals led the gainers in the index with a rise of 16.4% followed by increases in Starbucks of 8%, in Wyeth of 4.95%, in Schering Plough of 4%, in Cardinal Health of 3.5%, in Merck of 3.00%, and in Amerisource Bergen of 2.9%.

South American Markets Indexes

In Latin Markets Brazil led the gainers in the region with a rise of 2.15% followed by increases in Argentina of 1.77%, in Mexico of 0.41%, and in Peru of 0.17%.

Colombia led the decliners in the region with a fall of 2.2% followed by losses in Chile of 1%.


Asian Markets