[R]4:00PM New York, 10:00PM Frankfurt, 1:30 AM Mumbai – New York quickens the pace of sell-off in the last fifteen minutes of trading. Europe lost nearly 1% across the region.[/R]

New York and European markets closed lower for the second day on the worries related to U.S. housing market and widening spreads in the credit markets. Asian markets opened sharply lower tacking the losses on Wall Street. Emerging markets in the region fell the most. Japan dropped 2.3% and resource companies driven Australia lost 2.8%.South American markets rebounded led by 1.0% gains in Mexico and Chile. Turkey led the global decline with a loss of 4.2%, dropped another 0.5% at the end of the week.

Yields edged lower on 10-year U.S. bonds and closed at 4.798% and 30-year bond rose to close at 4.954%.

Crude oil increased $2.07 to close at $77.02 per barrel, natural gas closed 17 cents higher to $6.11 per mBtu, and gasoline futures increased 2.6 cents to close at 210.17 cents per gallon.

Gold traded lower $2.80 to close at $672.30 per ounce, silver increased 23 cents to close at $12.72 per ounce, and copper futures lost or $5 to close at $7,859 per metric ton.

Dow Jones plunged 208.10 to 13,265.47, Nasdaq plummeted 37.11 to 2,562.23, and S&P 500 sunk 23.71 to 1,458.95. Russell 2000 index of small cap companies fell 1.7%, S&P 500 dropped 1.6%, Dow Jones decreased 1.54%, and Nasdaq declined 1.43%.

FTSE 100 Index in the U.K. closed down 36 to 6,215.20, in Tokyo Nikkei 225 closed at 17,283.81, down 418.28, and Brazil iBovespa lost 2,027.37 to close at 53,973.93.

Two-days of selling left Japan with virtually no gain for the year so far with investors dumping stocks of exporters, banks and auto companies. Other markets in Asia corrected between 3% and 4%. European markets declined for the second day in a row. The losses were limited to less than 1% across the region and worries of rising euro against dollar but insurance stocks fell for the second day.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported second quarter preliminary read of the economic growth of 3.4% and revised first quarter growth to 0.6% from 0.7%. The consumer spending in the quarter edged only 1.3% but business spending grew 8.1%. International trade added 1.18% to economic growth. Investment new structures including factories, office buildings and warehouses surged 22%.

The price index for personal consumption increased 4.3% in the second quarter and core rate excluding volatile food and energy rose 1.4%.

Recently priced IPO of leveraged buyout group Blackstone fell 5.45% to $24.30, its lowest close from the first day trading high of $36.90. Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME: chart) jumped $13 or 3.53% to $556.50. Dow Jones & Company increased 98 cent to $54.70 on the report on the Wall Street Journal website that certain branch of controlling shareholder Bancroft family is opposed to a sale to News Corporation and are looking for higher payment for its class B voting shares. Bancroft family owns 19% of the company but controls 64% of voting stocks.

Latin American Markets managed to rebound led by 1.1% gain Mexico followed by 0.9% rise I Chile, 0.1% increase in Argentina. Brazil fell 1.5%.


[R]1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European markets finished in the red on credit-market concerns.[/R]

European stock markets finished in the red for a third day in a row. Stocks traded in a volatile session, weighed down by credit-market concerns, sparked yet again by Cadbury Schweppes, which delayed the sale of its U.S. beverage unit. Worries about the worsening climate for financing corporate takeovers added to negative sentiment. After the biggest one-day sell-off in four years on Thursday, the U.K. closed down 0.6%.France followed suit, losing 0.6%, while Germany dropped 0.8%.

In Frankfurt Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank posted significant losses, falling 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively. Shares of Allianz lost 2%, as several large European insurance companies continued to worry about the portfolio exposure. There were companies posting gains on the back of their quarterly financial results. Volkswagen rose 3.6% as the auto maker said it expects to meet its 2008 earnings goal a year early.

In Paris shares of insurance company Axa continued to decline, down 0.9%. Cap Gemini was another notable loser, falling 2.3%. Shares in luxury-goods firm LVMH added 1% on strong first-half sales and profit from recurring operations. Saint-Gobain rose 2% after the supplier of building materials posted 31% rise in first-half net income.

In London candy and beverage group Cadbury Schweppes gained 2.4%, as investors expressed relief that the sale wasn''t scrapped altogether. The mining sector stood out among the most notable losers again, with shares in Rio Tinto falling 2.7% and Antofagasta losing 3.6%. Among insurers, Irish Life & Permanent declined 3.8%


[R]11:30AM U.S. stocks extended recent decline, led by oil and financial stocks.[/R]