Overnight global stock market watch

[Newsjock]

10:30 pm ET:
Nikkei 225 8,195.74 -478.95 -5.52%
Hang Seng 13,617.52 -649.08 -4.55%
Straits Times 1,742.04 -79.09 -4.34%

[TexasObserver]

1. We're going to have a new close this Friday lower than any previously.

I've been saying that the oft repeated "we've reached a floor" was fool's gold.

We're going to have a new close this Friday lower than any previously.

This ain't over until the DOW closes below 8000 by several hundred points.

[JNelson6563]

2. More of this to come.

Those few up days didn't fool me any. There's a lot more bloodletting going to happen before this storm passes.

Julie

[Arctic Dave]

3. I'm free, free fallin'

Not just for sky diving videos anymore.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. In the past, haven't these markets tended to follow rather than lead

the bad news in the US market?

[Newsjock]

5. They led us down this time, it seems

Nikkei was down 6.8% yesterday. This is on top of that, ouch.

[On the Road]

6. Yeah, You Never Know Where it Will Turn

But for the time being, there's been a pattern of US movement continuting and accelerating during the trading day. There has never been such a good time for daytraders with even the least amount of skill.

[metapunditedgy]

7. Maybe in the past...

Nowadays, it's hard to tell who is following and who's leading. Other economies were more stable in the past, so they were more strongly driven by news coming out of the USA. Now they have problems of their own, and are starting to push back. E.g., falling Euro means strengthening dollar means weaker US international sales and lower oil prices, means lower energy industry profits, etc.

[Newsjock]

8. Nikkei hits 5-½ year low as recession fear, yen bite

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idCAT35627820081023?rpc=44

TOKYO, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average fell 6.6 percent on Thursday and hit its lowest point in more than five years, with exporters such as Canon battered by a firmer yen and fears over the global economy.

NEC Corp's shares tumbled more than 11 percent after the Japanese electronics maker cut its annual operating profit forecast by 29 percent, hit by sluggish mobile phone sales and rapidly deteriorating demand for microchips.

"We now have a situation where investors can't avoid admitting the spread of the global recession," said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. It's a global financial circle jerk! NT

[illuminaughty]

20. And nobody gets off!

[Newsjock]

10. Decline of Canadian dollar marks rapid fall from grace

http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081022.wdollar23/BNStory/Business/home

The once lofty Canadian dollar plunged below 80 cents (U.S.) Wednesday, continuing a stunning decline that has lopped 6 per cent off its value against its soaring U.S. counterpart in less than a week and putting it on track for its worst month in 37 years.

The loonie's dizzying fall to depths not plumbed since the spring of 2005 shows no sign of ending soon, as jittery global investors flee commodities and other risky investments and plow money into the relative safety of U.S. Treasury bills and other U.S. dollar assets. Most other currencies have been pummelled as well, but few were as attractive as the Canadian dollar was scant months ago.

It marks a shockingly rapid fall from grace. As recently as last November, the loonie briefly reached $1.10, and still hovered above par in May. Few currency experts expected the loonie to stay at such an exalted level – indeed most predicted it would weaken substantially this year in the face of the U.S. recession and a deteriorating outlook for key Canadian commodity exports. But the steep plunge in such a short time has caught even the professionals off guard.

“This market is an absolute freight train, and there's no standing in the way of it,” said Steven Butler, director of foreign exchange trading at Scotia Capital Markets in Toronto.

[Mojorabbit]

11. I think tomorrow

will be another roller coaster ride.

[Newsjock]

12. Nikkei continues downward

Just before midnight ET:
Nikkei 225 8,157.67 -517.02 -5.96%
Hang Seng 13,475.84 -790.76 -5.54%
Straits Times 1,750.22 -70.91 -3.89%

[Newsjock]

13. Asia stocks sink on worsening global economy

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINSP39451820081023?rpc=44

HONG KONG, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell to a 4-year low on Thursday on growing fears a global recession would depress corporate earnings, while the dollar rose to a 2-year high against the euro, underpinned by the unwinding of risky trades.

Investors have mostly sought refuge in government debt of the euro zone, Japan and the United States as well as the yen, after credit market stabilisation in the last week unearthed a renewed focus on the adverse impact of the financial crisis on real economies, especially in emerging markets.

The cost of insurance against sovereign debt default in countries such as South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines soared, with a sense of panic festering two days after Argentina moved to nationalise its pension system. The step was interpreted by investors as a desperate measure to stave off default.

... Analysts at banks such as Citigroup and Morgan Stanley expect the yen to continue strengthening as Japanese banks and investors slash their overseas exposure, though economic conditions in Japan itself are deteriorating.

Japan's trade data showed exports in September were much weaker than expected, with exports to the United States down 11 percent from the same month last year.

[girl gone mad]

14. Yen/dollar printing 96 now..

I've never seen currencies move so fast. I had been hoping for a retrace to double my yen position, doesn't look like I'll get it this week.

[Newsjock]

15. U.S. futures higher

S&P 500 +10.60 913.40 10/23 0:27am
NASDAQ +9.75 1257.75 10/23 0:26am
Dow Jones +109.00 8666.00 10/23 0:26am

[Marsala]

16. Yeah, the foreign markets generally follow our lead, so they are responding to our bad day

We OTOH won't pay as much attention to their bad day, as traders will be expecting the market to bounce back a little bit.

[Newsjock]

17. Asia stocks fall on profit fears; SKorea off 8 pct

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081023/world_markets.html

HONG KONG (AP) -- Asian stocks tumbled for a second day Thursday, with South Korea's market sinking more than 8 percent, as a barrage of downbeat company forecasts deepened fears of a global recession.

Every major regional benchmark was in the red. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average losing 478.95, or 5.5 percent, to 8,195.74 points, extending further losses of almost 7 percent a day earlier. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 662.89, or 4.65 percent, at 13,603.71.

Asia's downward lurch followed Wall Street as hundreds of companies reported third-quarter results and issued murky forecasts this week, signs that the economic slowdown was taking a toll on balance sheets despite recent improvements in the world credit markets.

... In South Korea, the Kospi plummeted 8.6 percent to 1,036, along with another steep slide in the country's currency, the won. The Kospi has slid 45 percent so far this year, a sharp reversal of the bull market in Korean stocks in recent years. Last year, the Kospi rose 32 percent, its fourth double-digit gain in five years.

Australia's key index pulled back almost 4 percent as slumping world commodity prices sent resource companies such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group sharply lower.

[Newsjock]

18. Nikkei rebounding strongly

Nikkei 225 8,392.94 -281.75 -3.25%
Hang Seng 13,603.25 -663.35 -4.65%
Straits Times 1,752.85 -68.28 -3.75%

[question everything]

19. Let's hope that this would be a good sign for the rest of the markets

The NY market is down 20% for October alone.

Of course, October is always the bad one, when companies release their third quarter reports.

[TheWatcher]

21. US Futures Now Throwing A 50 Kegger Based On Nothing.

* US Futures & Markets Indicators
*



S&P 500 +13.20 916.00 10/23 2:10am S&P 500 FUTURES
NASDAQ +14.25 1262.25 10/23 1:21am NASDAQ FUTURES
Dow Jones +126.00 8683.00 10/23 2:10am

I guess they are just getting high on the fumes of their own bullshit for tonight's Carnival.

At least they had an "upbeat" conference call (Which was nothing more than a Godiva Chocolate Shell hiding the steaming Dogshit of a center in the form of a MASSIVE Warning for next quarter) from AAPL to toke off of the day before.

Who knows maybe they will find something of substance to pin it on before morning.

Like The Fed, Stammerin' Hank, or Helo Ben Awarding themselves with more Power, or some new scheme, plan, or synthetically generated folly or paradigm to soothe the public into believing that things will be fixed by 4PM tomorrow afternoon, just in time for McDoanald's to roll out the new Fall Value Menu so the Cheeseburger Gobbling can continue without fear of being abated.

Like this:

Fed says may mull expanding money mkt facility
Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:20pm EDT

NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve signaled on Wednesday its funding of short-dated securities purchases to free up frozen lending markets may include a wider range of issuers than previously stated.

The U.S. central bank may consider expanding its money market funding facility beyond the debt instruments of 50 financial institutions already selected, the New York Fed said.

In a "frequently asked questions" document published on the New York Fed's website, the Fed said it might expand the facility beyond debt instruments of 50 financial institutions.

On Tuesday, the Fed said it would set up the Money Market Investor Funding Facility (MMIFF) to alleviate persistent strains from the global credit crisis in short-term funding markets, specifically in commercial paper and certificates of deposit.

"The Federal Reserve may consider such an expansion, however, it will assess the effects of the MMIFF before expanding the MMIFF's coverage," the website said.

As previously reported, the New York Fed will lend to the private sector special purpose vehicles (PSPVs) at the primary credit discount rate, which is currently 1.75 percent, the Fed said.

But if the discount rate rises above 2.25 percent, the Fed will subordinate its right to receive interest to the rights of asset-backed commercial paper holders to receive principal and interest, the Fed said.

The problems we face are legion and they are systemic, and they are not going to be over in a few weeks.

We are going to have at the very least, a severe recession. I wish it were not so, I wish that this all COULD be solved in a few weeks, I wish that $700 Billion Dollars could fix the entire Planet, I wish that The Fed could just Paper Over and Manipulate us back into Prosperity and Complacency again, but it is not reality.

Do not be suckered by the wild artificial pumping in the Market on a given day, and the DoublePlus Good Goebbels Happy Talk in the Financial Media, who up until September of this year, when they couldn't realistically hide the meltdown any longer, told you that everything was FINE and GETTING BETTER. Kudlow is going to need a Mechanical Heart with a Nuclear Generator in order to survive the amount of coke he's going to need to get him through this little hurricane.

They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.

By the way, if you really are interested in Casino Gazing, the time to watch the Futures is between 3 AM and 6 AM. That's when it really matters, at least of late.