Recession fears hit stock markets

European and Asian markets have fallen sharply on fears that the world economy will enter a protracted downturn.
The slide comes after the Dow Jones share index in New York fell to its lowest level in five years.
London’s FTSE 100 index fell 2.2% in morning trade, with mining shares hardest hit. French and German markets also lost ground.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei index ended 6.8% lower and Hong Kong’s main index fell more than 4%.
The FTSE 100 was down 88.52 points at 3,917.16 points after falling almost 5% on Wednesday. Germany’s Dax index and France’s Cac 40 both shed around 3.3%.

People are looking for any kind of positive and there are just no positives out there

Miles Remington, BNP Paribas Securities

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones index fell 5% to below 8000 after the US central bank slashed its economic growth forecasts for 2009.
The deepening global recession is being felt in a number of ways:

Mining shares were among the biggest losers on fears that demand for steel and other raw materials will be hit as the economy slows. Steel giant Arcelor-Mittal lost 6% and Vedanta Resources lost almost 10%

Oil prices fell for a fifth straight day to approach $50 a barrel

Japan’s exports to Asia dropped in October for the first time in six years

Job losses are mounting worldwide, with aerospace firm Rolls Royce, AstraZeneca and French carmaker Peugeot Citroen announcing a total of 6,100 cuts

China has warned its employment outlook is „grim“, amid worries that economic problems could lead to social unrest
The IMF has approved a $2.1bn (£1.4bn) loan for Iceland. Turkey is set to agree to a precautionary stand-by deal with the IMF soon
Retail sales fell and public sector borrowing rose in the UK.

Depressed outlook
The BBC’s Duncan Bartlett in Tokyo says several East Asian countries – including Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong – are already in recession and the thought that the US may be about to join them has been enough to send shares tumbling across the region.
Bad news from the US has worried Japanese firms like Toyota and Nintendo which usually depend on American consumers for much of their profit, our correspondent adds.
„We’ve gone past the poor sentiment stage,“ Miles Remington, head of Asian sales trading at BNP Paribas Securities in Hong Kong, told the Associated Press news agency.
„People are looking for any kind of positive and there are just no positives out there. Everyone seems to be united in the depressed global outlook. Whether it’s commodities or equities, everything seems to be on a downturn.“
US slowdown
On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve said the country’s gross domestic product – the value of all goods and services – could be flat or grow only marginally this year, and might shrink in 2009.
It said positive economic growth was only likely to return in 2010 and predicted further interest rate cuts might be necessary.
Month-on-month US consumer prices fell by 1% in October – the biggest drop in 60 years – which has reinforced fears of rapid slowdown.

ВВС