Wall Street closed lower on mixed signals concerning the subprime crisis. While Bears Stearns’ (NYSE: BSC) CFO said that his company will take $1.2 billion in write downs in the fourth quarter, less than had been feared, HSBC (LSE: HSBA; NYSE: HBC; Euronext: HSBC; SEHK: 005) warned that it will have to write down $3.4 [...]

Asia-Pacific stocks were higher Friday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 1.84 percent to 30,405.22, closing over 30,000 for the first time and setting a new closing record after rising to 30,562.63 during the session for an all-time intra-day high. Meanwhile in South Korea the Kopsi index gained 2.6 percent to 3,038.06 for [...]

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 [...]

Equities markets in Asia and the Pacific were mixed on Wednesday, with most major markets seeing declines on the session. The most notable decline came in India, where the Sensex dropped 1.76 percent to 18,715.82 after dropping nearly 10 percent at one point in the day, forcing trade to stop for an hour. The declines [...]

European markets were higher again Friday, helped by talk of a plan to allow the US Federal Housing Authority to guarantee loans for delinquent subprime mortgage holders so that they can refinance their loans at better rates and avoid foreclosure, on the theory that the plan will help relieve chaos in the mortgage marked and [...]

European markets were lower on the session, led by declines in banks that are still beset by problems in the credit market. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 1.28 percent lower to 1,493.85. In Frankfurt the Dax dropped 0.66 percent to 7,425.07, while the IBEX was down 1.21 percent to 14,553.1 in Madrid and the Paris [...]

Most equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on Monday. The main exception was the Shanghai Composite, which added 1.48 percent to 4,628.11 to reach a new record close in China. In South Korea, the Kospi index dropped 1.16 percent to 1,855.05, while Taiwan’s Taiex index fell 1.28 percent to 8,941.73 and the Sensex [...]

Most Asia-Pacific equities markets saw declines on Monday. The main exception was the Taiex index in Taiwan, which added 1.4 percent to 8,939.19, a seven-year high. The gains came on pledges as the presidential campaign began there. Also seeing gains was the Sensex, which was 0.14 percent higher to 14,487.72. Among decliners, the big loser [...]

Asia-Pacific equities markets were mixed on the session on Friday. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.46 percent to 6,317.1 and the Hang Seng index gained 0.72 percent to 21,017.05 in Hong Kong. On the other hand the Straits Times index in Singapore dropped 0.06 percent to 3,581.16, while the Sensex fell 0.33 percent to [...]

Equities markets in the Asia Pacific region were higher on Monday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 0.11 percent to 20,927.75, while in Singapore the Straits Times index was 0.2 percent higher to 3,514.49. In India, the Sensex gained 0.81 to 14,418.6. The Sydney Ordinaries added 0.84 percent to 6,372.5 in Australia. Weakness [...]