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Friday, 5 August 2011

Debt crisis: Global markets plunge as eurozone contagion speads


 Telegraph

José Manuel Barroso’s warning came as stock markets plunged around the world amid growing fears of another global recession.

Mr Barroso called for an emergency strengthening of Europe’s bail-out mechanism. He said he had “deep concerns” about the faltering Spanish and Italian economies.

The stark message was delivered as the FTSE 100 suffered a 3.43pc fall, its biggest since the height of the banking crisis in March 2009.

In the past five days, investors have lost a total of £125bn.

The doubts spread to America as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.3pc to its lowest point since December 1 2008.

In other developments: 

* The City watchdog asked British banks to reveal how much exposure they had to other European member states, including Belgium
* Trading in the shares of Lloyds and Barclays had to be suspended because their values fell so much
* BNY Mellon, one of the largest banks in America, said it would start charging some customers to deposit money as investors hoarded cash
* Switzerland and Japan were forced to cut interest rates to dampen demand for their currency from investors seeking a “safe haven”
Mr Barroso’s letter to European Council members came a fortnight after European leaders were congratulating themselves for bringing the Greek economy back from the brink with a £96bn bail-out.  [...]

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