CHESSNOID

The Asian stock markets are falling as an aftermath of the US markets falling dramatically and the threat of a global recession becomes more clear.  These are bigger drops than the previous days and the downward momentum seems to be building. An AP article states:

After a miserable day on Wall Street when the Dow Jones industrials lost more than 500 points, investors in Asia responded by dumping stocks in a broad regional sell-off.

Japanese shares were hammered hard, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average spiraling down nearly 10 percent to 9,159 in afternoon trading to its lowest intraday level in five years.

Shares of Toyota Motor Corp. sank 12 percent on reports that its operating profit would fall 20 percent in the fiscal year through March.

“Selling seems almost unstoppable because of uncertainty over the crisis,” said Kazuki Miyazawa, market analyst at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. Ltd. in Tokyo. “Investors simply don’t find incentives to buy stocks.”

The carnage was also brutal in Hong Kong, where the blue chip Hang Seng index plunged 5.6 percent to 15,871.

To ease the credit crunch, Hong Kong’s de factor central bank said it will cut the benchmark interest rate by 1 percentage point to 2.5 percent. The move represents a break from Hong Kong’s traditional pattern of following the U.S. Federal Funds target rate, which is now at 2 percent. The authority said it has changed its formula to calculate its base rate from 150 basis points above the prevailing U.S. fed funds rate to 50 basis points.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX200 shed 5 percent, wiping out a 1.7 percent gain on Tuesday after the country’s central bank cut its key interest rate by a larger-than-expected 1 percentage point.

Asian markets were deep in the red: South Korea’s benchmark index was down 6.1 percent, Thailand’s market was down 6 percent, and Indonesia’s stock market halted trading when its key index plunged 10 percent

Of course, the stock futures are headed down big time. As I type this blog, it looks like this:

	Dow	-198.00	-2.08%	9,340.00
	NASDAQ	-24.00	-1.80%	1,312.50
	S&P	-22.70	-2.25%	984.20

One things for sure, tomorrow will be a stressful day for everyone whether you own stocks or not. The future of our economy is getting worse by the day. Of course, we could get a bounce at anytime even though it will be short lived.  It looks like a possible break on the next floor.  Could the DOW 9,000 be broken tomorrow?  If I was a betting man, I would take that bet.  If it does break tomorrow, then it will be the biggest news story of the day and useless rate cuts will be executed.