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 [...]

Asia-Pacific equities markets headed lower on Monday as investors worried that not only the US economy but also the Japanese economy are headed for recession. In India, the Sensex ended the session 1.14 percent lower at 18,152.78. Taiwan’s Taiex index fell 3.28 percent to 7,845.79 while the FTSE Straits Times Index was down [...]

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 [...]

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Wednesday after reports that the economies in both South Korea and Singapore are slowing and on the news that the bombing of an army bus in Colombo, Sri Lanka, had killed four. The Straits Times index was 0.61 percent lower to 3,461.22 in Singapore on [...]

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on Monday on fears that growing inflation in the United States will cause the Federal Reserve to hold back on further interest rate cuts at a time when the economy is continuing to slow. The Shanghai Composite was down 2.62 percent to 4,876.76 while South Korea’s [...]

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 [...]