[R]4:00PM New York, 10:00PM Frankfurt, 1:30 AM Mumbai[/R]

Fears of subprime fallout pervaded markets around the world. New York opened lower but managed to regain most of the losses by the end of the day. European markets closed lower and Asia fell sharply at the end of the week.[/R]

Dow Jones closed down 30.98 to 13,329.70, Nasdaq declined 11.59 to 2,544.89, and S&P 500 increased 0.56 to 1,453.65.

FTSE 100 Index in the U.K. closed down 232.90 to 6,038.30, in Tokyo Nikkei 225 closed at 16,764.09, down 2.37% or 406.51, and in Brazil, iBovespa closed down 2.90% to close at 53,637.06

Yields edged higher on 10-year U.S. bonds and closed at 4.77% and 30-year bond rose to close at 5.00%.

Crude oil decreased 13 cents to close at $71.46 per barrel, natural gas closed 25 cent higher to $6.84 per mBtu, and gasoline futures increased 2.1 cents to close at 195.48 cents per gallon.

Gold traded $8.80 higher to close at $681.60 per ounce, silver gained 17 cents to close at $12.87 per ounce, and copper futures declined $101.50 to close at $7,603.00 per metric ton.

In New York trading stocks fell at the opening as central banks around the world injected liquidity in the financial systems. Home builders, mortgage lenders, and brokerage and securities companies declined.

The Federal Reserve Bank, this morning issued a statement with an intention to calm the markets. In the statement the bank said that it is “providing liquidity to facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets” and also added that it “will provide reserves as necessary” to meet “the needs because of dislocations in money and credit markets.”

The European Central Bank was forced to inject liquidity on Thursday and Friday. In the two days it has added nearly 130 billion euros in the market to curb the interest rate rising above its target rate of 4%. The rates had risen to 4.7% and after the injection interest rates fell to 4.1% but the credit markets remain jittery.

The Central Bank in Japan added 1 trillion yen in liquidity to keep the rates below 0.45% the rates had jumped to 0.55%. The Reserve Bank of Australia added A$4.5 billion in liquidity. Singapore Monetary Authority added S1.5 billion and said that it is prepared to fund more liquidity if needed. The central banks in Indonesia, Philippines, and South Korea expressed willingness to provide liquidity if needed.

Home builders stocks fell sharply only to see the previous day’s gains wiped off. Beazer Homes plunged 9%, D R Horton fell 4%, Pulte Homes dropped 5%, and Toll Brothers declined 2%. Countrywide Financial fell nearly 8% before recovering to close at 3% after reporting that current financial market volatility may hurt the company performance. Washington Mutual fell 3% after saying that closing non-prime loans and securities have become difficult.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average 24 closed lower and 6 advanced. General Electric and Coca Cola led the decliners with a loss of 3%, followed by 2.5% loss in General Motors, Microsoft, and Alcoa. Honeywell, Verizon, and Merck dropped 2%. Hewlett and IBM led the gainers with a rise of 1%. Intel added 0.5%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 298 stocks closed lower and 201 gained, 1 stock closed unchanged. Financial stocks dominated the losers list. MGIC Investment Corp dropped 13% followed by AMBAC with a loss of 8.3%, Discover Financial with a decline of 7%. Housing related stocks fell sharply as well. Pulte Homes, D R Horton, and Countrywide Financial dropped 6%. Convergys Corp led the index stocks with a gain of 112% followed by 8% rise in Ashland, 7.7% gain Forest Labs and Cincinnati Financial.

Asian markets closed declined with heavy losses in Korea, Hong Kong, and Australia tracking lower markets in New York and Europe. Korea led the decliners in the region with a loss of 4.2% followed by 3.6% fall in Australia, 3% decrease in Philippines and Hong Kong, 2.7% fall in Taiwan, and 1.5% decline in India, Indonesia, and Singapore.

In Latin Markets trading Argentina led the region with a loss of 2.23% followed by 2.1% decline in Brazil, and 1.75% decrease in Mexico.

In Sao Paolo trading iBovespa index lost 1,088.13 to close at 52,342.71 with 50 stocks in the index falling, 9 stocks gaining, and 1 stock remained unchanged. TIM led the decliners with a loss of 6.25% followed by MET Gerdau with a loss of 4.2%, CCR with 4% and Cyrela with 3.9%. Sabesp led the gainers with a rise of 2.6% followed by 1.3% in Pao Acucar, and 1.1% in Gol and Net Servicos.


[R]1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European markets tumbled on subprime worries.[/R]

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%.