New York markets down on economic, geopolitical news

Wall Street was lower in early afternoon trade on Thursday on both economic and political news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.17 percent lower to 13,392.85 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.26 percent to 2,690.04 and the S&P 500 had dropped 1.11 percent to 1,480.99 in light volume as many traders extended the Christmas holiday. The assassination of Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto raised the possibility of increased political unrest in the region. In addition, durable goods orders in the US were up by only 0.1 percent in November, against an expected gain of 2.2 percent and the Labor Department reported that first-time jobless claims were up last week. In a bit of better news, consumer confidence was up a bit in December despite an expected decline. Shares in financial groups dropped after a prediction that write downs due to the subprime mortgage crisis will continue.

Equities markets in Tokyo were lower on the last full trading day of the year. Declines came on the news that house prices are down again in the United States and on a report that Japanese consumer finance companies will have paid out twice as many refunds to customers this year than they did in 2007. The Nikkei 225 and the Topix index each fell 0.57 percent to 15,564.69 and 1,499.94 respectively, while the Mothers market was down 1.3 percent to 801.21. Banks, the consumer finance sector and retailers all saw declines on the session.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region most markets made gains. The major exception was Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, which was 1.02 percent lower to 27,842.93. The Kospi index was up 0.1 percent to 1,908.62 in South Korea while in Singapore the Straits Times index added 0.11 percent to 3,477.2. India’s Sensex was 0.12 percent higher to 20,216.72. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was up 0.43 percent to 6,350.9 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.6 percent to 6,426.4. The Shanghai Composite was 1.44 percent higher to 5,308.89. In Taiwan, the Taiex jumped 1.93 percent to 8,313.72 on the possibility that a court will clear the leading candidate in next March’s presidential election of corruption charges to that he can run for office.

European markets were mixed, with most seeing gains. The exception was Madrid’s IBEX, which dropped 0.22 percent to 15,256.2. The pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.07 percent to 1,509.1 while the Paris CAC-40 was up 0.24 percent to 5,627.48 and the Dax added 0.45 percent to 8,038.6 in Frankfurt. The banking sector was up on calls from the chief executive of Deutsche Bank for more transparency, while the oil sector gained on higher commodities prices. Car and truck makers were mixed, while there were declines among airlines.

London equities markets were higher as the FTSE 100 added 0.29 percent to 6,497.8 and the FTSE 250 gained 0.2 percent to 10,608.3. Utilities and power generators were higher on the expectation that they will see gains even in a slowing economy. Most components of the oil sector also saw gains. Miners were mixed, and the retail sector saw declines. Most banks were also lower on the session.

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