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Bounce goes out of global share markets
6 Nov 2008The Obama Bounce looked well and truly over today as stock markets around the world plunged on growing fears of a prolonged global recession.
Shares rallied in the days leading up to Barack Obama's landslide victory but the optimism soon began to evaporate as investors focused on the turmoil in the American economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 486.01 points to 9139.27 in New York last night, a fall of 5%, and stock markets in Asia took a battering this morning with the Nikkei 225 Average down nearly 7% in Japan and the Hang Seng index off nearly 8% in Hong Kong.
With further falls on Wall Street expected later today, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares was down 123.62 to 4407.11 in London this morning while markets in Europe were also on the slide.
"We had an election, but that doesn't mean the problems go away," said Kevin Rendino, a New Jersey-based fund manager at BlackRock. "We still have an economic slowdown."
On Wall Street, Citigroup tumbled 14% and Bank of America was down 11% while News Corp slumped 19% in Sydney and Cathay Pacific Airways dropped 12%.
