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 [...]

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 equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on Monday as analysts and investor worried about the possibility of recession in the US. Last week, the US Labor Department issued disappointing employment data for December, and reports from the Institute for Supply Management showed that manufacturing had contracted in the month and the [...]

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 [...]

Most equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher on Monday, helped by healthy sales on “Black Friday” in the United States, the traditional beginning of the Christmas shopping season and the traditional day when retailers turn to profit for the year. The exception to gains in the region came on the Shanghai Composite, [...]

Asia-Pacific equities market retreated Thursday after Wednesday’s substantial gains as investors worried that consumer spending is slowing in the US. A Commerce Department report said that sales in US department stores was 0.5 percent lower in October, while Macy’s (NYSE: M) predicted that same-store sales could decline in the fourth quarter and cut its [...]