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, which [...]

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 earnings [...]

Wall Street was significantly lower in midday trade on Friday after Wachovia (NYSE: WB) fed concerns about the credit crisis when it said it could write down as much as $1.1 billion just in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.18 percent lower to 13,109.48 while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 2.1 percent to [...]

Wall Street was lower in afternoon trade on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s decision on interest rates by the Federal Reserve and after the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence was down in October, to its lowest level in two years. More disappointing corporate results did not help matters. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2 [...]

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher again on Monday, with some indices reaching new records. In India, the Sensex rose above 20,000 for the first time, going as high as 20,024.67 during the session on record buying from investors in Europe and the United States. While the index dropped back below the 20,000 [...]

Most Asian markets were lower on Wednesday, worried by a report that investment bank Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER; TYO: 8675) will likely write down $2.5 billion more in the third quarter than previously estimated, adding to concerns over the effect of the subprime crisis. The bank had previously estimated it would write down around $5 [...]

Wall Street was up in early afternoon trade after declines earlier in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.17 percent to 13,545.43, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.81 percent to 2,747.17. And the S&P 500 was 0.23 percent higher to 1,504.04. In the pharmaceuticals sector, Merck (NYSE: MRK) added $1.21 to $54.32 after [...]

Asian and Pacific region equities were lower Friday. The Shanghai Composite was 0.12 percent lower to 5,818.05, while in Taiwan the Taiex was down 0.26 percent to 9,611.72. Australian markets declined on losses in the banking and mining sectors. The Sydney Ordinaries fell 0.85 percent to 6,723.3 and the S&P/ASX200 dropped 0.91 percent to 6,706.3. [...]

European markets were mixed Thursday, with more losers than gainers. The gainer was Madrid’s IBEX, which added 0.5 percent to 15,507.1. Elsewhere, the pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.78 percent to 1,572.92. In Frankfurt, the Dax dropped 0.8 percent to 7,921.4. The Paris CAC-40 fell 0.89 percent to 5,767.24. Truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) [...]

Europe’s equities markets were mixed Friday. The Dax added 0.09 percent to 8,041.26 in Frankfurt, while Madrid’s IBEX jumped 1.07 percent to 15,261.3. On the other hand, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.08 percent lower to 1,598.14 while the Paris CAC-40 dropped 0.32 percent to 5,843.95. EADS (Euronext: EAD; FWB: EAD) did the best on [...]