MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
European markets plunge on renewed Euro fears and lack of confidence
German voters reacted against Chancellor Merkel in her home state World shares fell Tuesday morning and the Euro came under pressure following a huge sell-off in Europe as renewed Euro zone debt woes added to already weak confidence in the global economy.
Equities lost out as traders sought out safe haven assets to take shelter from the gloom, with gold edging back towards its record high.
Tokyo fell 1.23% by the break, Hong Kong shed 1.21%, Sydney was 1.49% lower, Seoul fell 1.13% and Shanghai was 0.28% off.
The falls extended selling from Monday after a dismal batch of US jobs data raised concerns of a double-dip recession in the world's biggest economy.
They also followed massive losses in Europe, where financials were heavily hit after IMF chief Christine Lagarde warned banks needed extra capital to withstand any contagion from the Euro zone debt crisis.
London's FTSE 100 dropped 3.58%, in Paris, the CAC 40 fell 4.73% and Frankfurt's DAX plunged 5.28% to a two-year low. In Spain Madrid’s market was down 4.69% and Milan, 4.83%.
US markets were closed on Monday for the Labor Day bank holiday.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) suffered an election defeat in her home state Sunday, with the news unsettling the market.
Selling of bank stocks was exacerbated by a US decision to take legal action against 17 leading international lenders over securitized mortgage trading at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis.
ECB data showed that Euro zone banks have deposited record amounts of overnight funds with it, a signal of reluctance by banks to lend to each other. The ongoing troubles in the Euro zone weighed on the region's currency.
The Euro bought 1.4074 dollar, compared with 1.4109 late in London Monday. The European unit fell to a one-month-low of 1.4064 at one point. It was also at 108.18 Yen from 108.57 Yen. The dollar bought 76.88 Yen compared with 76.86 Y late Monday.
The price of gold hit 1,898.90 dollars an ounce, closing in on its record high 1,913.50 seen last month. Oil was down, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, diving 2.53 to 83.92 dollars per barrel. Brent North Sea crude climbed 49 cents to 110.57 dollars.
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Read all commentsThe market (however attractive it may appear) is built on promises: the only source of wealth is the earth. Anyone who has land has access to energy, water, nourishment, shelter, healing, wisdom, ancestors and a grave. Ivan Illich spoke of “a society of convivial tools that allows men to achieve purposes with energy fully under their control”. The ultimate convivial tool, the mother of all the others, is the earth.
Sep 06th, 2011 - 02:21 pm 0Although the earth gives, it dictates its terms; and its terms alter from place to place. So it is that agriculture begets human culture; and cultural diversity, like biological diversity, flowers in obedience to the conditions that the earth imposes. The first and inevitable effect of the global market is to uproot and destroy land-based human cultures. The final and inevitable achievement of a rootless global market will be to destroy itself.
In a shrunken world, taxed to keep the wheels of industry accelerating, land and its resources are increasingly contested. Six billion people compete to acquire land for a variety of conflicting uses: land for food, for water, for energy, for timber, for carbon sinks, for housing, for wildlife, for recreation, for investment. The politics of land — who owns it, who controls it and who has access to it — is more important than ever.
Rome fell; the Soviet Empire collapsed; the stars and stripes are fading in the west. Nothing is forever in history, except geography. Capitalism is a confidence trick, a dazzling edifice built on paper promises. It may stand longer than some of us anticipate, but when it crumbles, the land will remain.
-Nalliah Thayabharan
l agree, l think there are now 7 billion people. A Doctor told me that we are well overdue for a world-wide epidemic that could wipe out a third of the earth's population.
Sep 06th, 2011 - 11:10 pm 0Sad, but maybe necessary.
Mother Gaia is angry with what we are doing to her.
“Capitalism is a confedince trick”
Sep 07th, 2011 - 02:19 am 0Capitalism, wealth of nations, read that book will ya. What they have there in Europe and in the United States isn't Capitalism, it's CRONY Capitalism. That is destroying Europe and the United States.
overdue for a world-wide epidemic that could wipe out a third of the earth's population.
Sad, but maybe necessary”
What? sad but maybe necesarry?
So it's okay if other nations decide that Brits in the UK should disappear, even if it's sad but necesarry? huh? Geez.
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