EMG drops 23 percent in worst performance on 100

European equities markets saw declines Wednesday on continuing earnings concerns and on reduced broker recommendations.

In London the FTSE 100 was 1.52 percent lower to 4,182.02 while the FTSE 250 dropped 2.39 percent to 6,251.18.

Hedge fund Man Group (LSE: EMG) had the worst day on the 100 with a decline of 23.39 percent, while pubs operator Enterprise Inns (LSE: ETI) turned in the worst performance on the 250 as it dropped 22.95 percent.

The 100 had been up earlier on the chance that the Bank of England will cut interest rates further, but commodities-related shares were lower after Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (LSE: ENRC) cut its capital spending forecast, with Eurasian dropping 6.9 percent on the session.

The best performance on the 100 came from the telecommunications sector as Vodafone (LSE: VOD; NYSE: VOD; FWB: VOD) added 6.09 percent.

Elsewhere, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 3.4 percent to 853.48 while the Dax fell 2.96 percent to 4,620.8, the IBEX was 2.97 percent lower to 8,646.8, and the CAC-40 dropped 3.07 percent to 3,233.96.

Arcelor Mittal (Euronext: MT; NYSE: MT; BMAD: MTS; LuxSE: MT) led losses on the CAC-40 with a decline of 9.58 percent after Citigroup (NYSE: C) cut its recommendation on the steel maker from “buy” to “sell” and lowered its earnings estimate for the steel sector as a whole.

Banks were lower, including Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) which led losses on the Dax as it fell 9.47 percent, after US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that the focus of US bailout plans will change.

The oil sector and carmakers also saw declines.

Asia-Pacific region equities markets were lower on disappointing outlooks that gave little hope of an economic recovery anytime soon.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.29 percent to 8,695.51 while the Topix index fell 1.59 percent to 875.23 and the Mothers market of small and mid-caps dropped 1.46 percent to 339.71.

In the oil sector, Inpex (TYO: 1605) fell 5.4 percent after cutting its full-year net income forecast by 15 percent on recent declines in oil prices, while traders that make much of their money from handling commodities were also lower.

On the other hand, telecommunications and media group Softbank (TYO: 9984) added 16 percent and has more than doubled in value in the past two weeks.

The Shanghai Composite added 0.84 percent to 13,939.09 but other indices saw declines on the session.

South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.43 percent to 1,123.86 while the Taiex fell 0.5 percent to 4,615.57 in Taiwan, the Hang Seng was 0.73 percent lower to 13,939.09 in Hong Kong, and in Australia the S&P/ASX200 was down 0.85 percent to 3,927.3 and the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.97 percent to 3,883.6.

In Singapore, the Straits Times Index was 1.27 percent lower to 1,784.01 while India’s Sensex fell 3.08 percent to 9,536.33.

Miners were down on declines in metals prices while banks were down as write downs in the global financial sector have reached over $900 billion since last year.

Wall Street was lower at nearly 1:30 p.m., hurt by the news that the US government will not buy bad assets from banks as had been planned, but will purchase stakes in banks instead on the theory that the original plan would take to long to make a noticeable difference in the economy.

In early afternoon trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 3.33 percent lower to 8,404.68 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 3.01 percent to 1,533.34 and the S&P 500 had dropped 3.39 percent to 868.45.

Retailers were having difficulties.

Department store chain JC Penney (NYSE: JCP) was down 4.77 percent while rival Macy’s (NYSE: M) had dropped 8.29 percent after it said it lost $44 million in the third quarter on declines in sales against its profit of $33 million in the same quarter last year.

Meanwhile, teen apparel retailer Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) was 5.92 percent lower on an analyst downgrade from “hold” to “sell” on the likelihood that its market-share growth will slow.

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