Wall Street was up right after the Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it was cutting its main interest rate by half a percentage point to 3 percent, but the markets ended the session lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3 percent to 12.442.83 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.38 percent to [...]

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index saw its biggest one-day gain in a decade and its largest points gain in history on Wednesday when it added 2,332 points, or 10.72 percent, to 24,090.17 on the heels of Tuesday’s surprise interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve. The big gains came after the index had [...]

As financial markets in the United States took the day off to celebrate the birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region plunged on growing worries that the US economy is either already in or will soon enter a recession. Markets in Hong Kong and in India dropped more [...]

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Thursday. Among losers on the session, Australian markets were down for the 9th consecutive session, their longest losing streak in more than a decade. The S&P/ASX200 was down 0.23 percent to 5,796.1 while the Sydney Ordinaries fell 0.24 percent to 5,857. During the [...]

Most Asia-Pacific equities markets were lower Monday on continuing worries that the US economy is headed for a recession. The main exceptions were the Shanghai Composite and Taiwan’s Taiex index. The Taiex added 1.79 percent to 8,173.41 after the opposition party managed a big win in parliamentary elections. The Kuomintang party, which [...]

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on Thursday on further concerns about US credit markets. The main exception to losses was the Shanghai Composite, which added 0.38 percent to 5,456.54. Australian indices saw the least of the losses as the S&P/ASX200 fell 0.15 percent to 6,078.7 and the Sydney Ordinaries dropped [...]

Most Asia-Pacific equities markets were higher on Friday. The main exception were Tokyo’s markets, where the Topix had its worst opening day of the year in history, falling 4.32 percent to 1,411.91. The Nikkei also saw substantial declines, dropping 4.03 percent to 14,691.41, while the Mothers market of small and mid-caps fell 4.67 [...]

Most equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region saw declines on Monday after Swiss bank UBS (SWX: USBN; NYSE: UBS; TYO: 8657) took $10 billion in writedowns, renewing concerns that losses from the US subprime mortgage crisis have not yet seen their peak. The major exception among losses in the region’s markets was the Shanghai [...]

Wall Street was lower in mid-afternoon trade on Tuesday ahead of next week‘s decision on interest rates by the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial average was 0.13 percent lower to 13,297.66 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.26 percent to 2,630.22 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.33 percent to 1,467.62. Declines [...]

European equities markets were up Tuesday as they bounced back from Monday’s declines. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.16 percent to 1,479.71. Madrid’s IBEX gained 1.03 percent to 15,700 while the Paris CAC-40 was 1.36 percent higher to 5,506.58 and the Dax added 1.58 percent to 7,630.31. Car and truck makers [...]