por admin » Mar Mar 15, 2011 7:21 am
Los futures tambalean despues de la caida del 10.6% del Nikkei
Sell off mundial debido a que la crisis nuclear en Japon se intensificaba y la preocupacion por las perdidas humanas y economicas a consecuencia del desvastador terremoto en Japon.
Alemania caia 4.2%
Hong Kong cayo 2.6%, Korea 2.4%
General Electric caia 6%
Futures Tumble After Nikkei Plunges
By POLY LESOVA, NICK GODT And SIMON KENNEDY
U.S. stock futures tumbled, joining a global market selloff that started in Tokyo as Japan's nuclear crisis deepened and worries escalated over the human and economic toll of last week's devastating earthquake.
Japan's Nikkei slumped 10.6%, dragging regional and global benchmark indexes down, on concerns over the country's radiation levels. WSJ's Jake Lee and Isabella Steger discuss.
I
n Japan, the Nikkei Stock Average plunged 11%, sparking broad declines in Asian and European markets. Germany's DAX 30 index was particularly hard hit, down 4.2%in intraday trading.
Against this backdrop, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 232 points to 11694 about 90 minutes before the opening bell. They had fallen as low as 11611.
Futures on the Standard and Poor's 500 index skidded 32.30 points to 1258.20 and Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 62.75 points to 2226.75.
"It seems as if it's taken the markets a couple of days to really react to what's happening in Japan and they are now really starting to price in the catastrophe," said Mads Koefoed, market strategist at Saxo Bank.
Japan's Nikkei slumped 10.6%, dragging regional and global benchmark indexes down, on concerns over the country's radiation levels. WSJ's Jake Lee and Isabella Steger discuss.
.In Japan, a third explosion ocurred Tuesday at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant and large amounts of nuclear material were released directly into the atmosphere. Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned of "substantial" radiation leaks.
The news sparked a sharp selloff, with the Nikkei Stock Average [NI225] plunging more than 14% at one point in afternoon trade. The day's drop, which followed Monday's 6.2% tumble, was its steepest one-day decline since 2008.
"The nuclear [situation] is serious, but it's part of the problem," Mr. Koefoed said. "Japan has pretty much stopped, [there is] no economic activity at all. The economic crisis is now starting to be priced in."
In other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 2.6% and South Korea's Kospi fell 2.4%.
In U.S. premarket trade, shares of General Electric dropped 6%. Uranium miners were under pressure once again, with Denison Mines down 20% and Uranium Energy down 23%.
On the economic front, February import prices and the Empire State index for March will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Then, at 10 a.m. Eastern, the NAHB housing market index for March will be reported.
Investors are also awaiting the Federal Reserve's statement on monetary policy, which is due at 2:15 p.m. Eastern. The central bank is expected to keep interest rates on hold and make relatively few changes to its statement.
"With the recovery in the U.S. economy still very vulnerable to external shocks such as the spike in oil prices and the earthquake in Japan, the Federal Reserve will most likely err on the [side] of caution by providing minimal clues on where they stand on monetary policy," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT Forex, in a note.
Oil and gold prices fell. The dollar fell against the yen, with analysts citing support for the Japanese currency from domestic retail and institutional investors reducing their risk exposure