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Stocks End Week With Another Slide ? Latest Market Analysis

As another week drew to a close it was on a down beat note that investors headed off for their weekends. US markets, which were generally focused on commemorating those who lost their lives 10 years ago in the 9/11 attacks, took their lead from Europe, and as far as bad news and rumours were concerned, Europe certainly delivered.

The day started with attention on the meeting in Marseilles of G7 finance ministers, at which the German and French ministers reiterated their desire to tax financial institutions on transactions, this was bad news for the banks, but also worried markets in general, that Europe’s dominant players were already planning how to fund bank bailouts, rather than address the sovereign debt issues that would cause the banks to require them.

Stocks really started selling off after lunch though as news broke that the ECBs Chief Economist Juergan Stark quit his role, the ECB claiming it for ‘personal reasons’ whilst most commentators suggested it was as he opposed the bond buying program that had supported Italy and Spain of late.

As rumours grew during the afternoon that Greece may default as early as this weekend, although this was denied in Athens, fuel was added to the fire as Angela Merkel suggested Germany could recapitalise its banks against any losses.

Another stressful day for traders ended with the FTSE 100 closing 2.35% lower, 125.7 points off at 5214.6, over 1% down over the course of the week. The only bright spot was for Oil explorer Tullow, whose shares ‘gushed’ 186p to 1413p, closing 15% higher on news it had discovered significant Oil reserves in French Guiana.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .