Stock Markets News

TORONTO (Reuters) - The main index of the Toronto Stock Exchange tumbled almost 6 percent on Friday as the latest wave of panic swept through global equity markets, wiping billions of dollars more from investor portfolios and pushing commodity prices sharply lower.

NEW YORK - Wall Street capped one of its worst weeks ever with a wild session Friday that saw the Dow Jones industrials gyrate within a 1,000 point range before closing with a relatively mild loss and the Nasdaq composite index actually ending with a modest advance.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Global stock markets went into a freefall Friday as panicked investors found no place to hide, although Wall Street managed to stem the losses in a stomach-churning session of ups and downs.

NEW YORK - "There's nothing that's come anywhere near this."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P 500 dropped for an eighth session on Friday, as a dramatic late-day comeback stalled out to cap the worst week ever for the S&P amid more anxiety about the condition of credit markets and the threat of a global recession.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Finance chiefs of the world's major economies pledged on Friday to take decisive action and work together to stem the escalating financial crisis after another day of gut-wrenching drops on world markets.

MOSCOW--By any measure, Russia's stock markets have been on a sickening ride.

LONDON (AFP) - The FTSE 100 index of leading shares plunged by almost nine percent on Friday after fresh falls on Wall Street, as investors continued to fret over the worldwide financial crisis.

LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices slumped Friday to one-year lows under 80 dollars per barrel, striking 75 dollars in London, amid a global equities meltdown that sparked fears over demand for energy, traders said.

SAN FRANCISCO - Just a year ago, investors were swaggering as the stock market surged to an all-time high. Now, almost everyone on Wall Street and Main Street seems to be shuddering amid a frightening reversal of fortune that has erased $8.3 trillion in shareholder wealth in the past 366 days.

LONDON - Europe's stock markets plunged Friday after Wall Street opened a breathtaking 7 percent lower — below the 8,000 level — but they soon recouped some of those losses when the Dow Jones index made a partial comeback.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush insisted on Friday the raging global financial firestorm would be put out as panic-stricken markets suffered more staggering losses.

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Brazil's main stock index plummeted more than 10 percent in early trading Friday after steep declines in Asia, Europe. Other Latin America markets fell sharply as well.

LONDON (AFP) - The London stock market plunged by almost 10.0 percent again on Friday, after fresh falls on Wall Street, as investors continued to fret over the worldwide financial crisis.

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush will address the nation this morning to tell Americans they should remain ``confident'' amid falling stock markets and a worldwide credit crisis, administration spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks slumped at the open on Friday, with the benchmark S&P 500 falling below the 900 mark, as fears that tighter credit may send the global economy into recession slashed the appetite for risk.

LONDON (AFP) - The price of New York crude fell below 80 dollars per barrel Friday, hitting a one-year low, as the market was rattled by plunging stock markets and fears of slowing demand, traders said.

Canada to buy up to $25 bln in insured mortgages

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada plans to buy up to C$25 billion ($21 billion) in insured residential mortgages to help cushion banks from the global financial crisis and address a "scarcity" of private-sector lending, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Friday.

NEW YORK - As harrowing as the stock market's plunges have been in recent days, they still haven't been enough to trigger the "circuit breaker" mechanisms that result in an automatic timeout in trading.

LONDON (Reuters) - European stocks tumbled at the open on Friday, tracking plunges in Asian and U.S. equities as investors feared world governments' attempts to unlock credit markets would not be enough to ward off a global recession.

TOKYO - Japan's key stock index plunged a stunning 9.6 percent Friday to close out its worst week in history as frantic investors worried about a global recession dumped stocks after huge losses on Wall Street.

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush will address the nation this morning to tell Americans they should remain ``confident'' amid falling stock markets and a worldwide credit crisis, administration spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

TOKYO - Stock markets across Asia posted sharp losses in early trading Friday on the heels of a steep sell-off on Wall Street.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's headline Nikkei-225 index fell more than 11 percent Friday in a massive plunge amid a global financial crisis.

TOKYO - Japan's benchmark Nikkei index falls more than 7 percent in early trade following massive losses overnight on Wall Street.

GEORGETOWN, Ohio (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama urged the Treasury Department to move quickly to carry out a rescue plan for financial markets, after U.S. stocks suffered a nearly 700-point decline on Thursday.

NEW YORK (AFP) - US shares plunged to fresh five-year lows Thursday in a vicious late-date selloff as jitters intensified over the global financial crunch.

Wall Street plunged again Thursday on anxiety about tight credit, the flagging economy and the financial health of automakers General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. A year after the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index surged to record highs, the two major indexes are now at their lowest levels in five years.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two former top executives of the Duane Reade Holdings Inc drug chain were indicted on Thursday on charges of falsely reducing reported company expenses and inflating income, officials said.