Global Stocks Decline on Recession Concern; Euro, Oil Retreat

Lynn Thomasson and Adam Haigh
BLOOMBERG
Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) — Stocks fell around the world, the euro sank to an almost two-year low against the dollar and commodities retreated as the economic slump deepened and corporate profits declined.

Exxon Mobil Corp., BHP Billiton Ltd. and Petroleo Brasileiro SA slid more than 4 percent. Argentina’s Merval index posted a second day of losses exceeding 10 percent following a government plan to seize private pension funds. The pound tumbled to a five- year low after Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said the country probably is in a recession.

“You see the slowdown in companies and economies and this is only the beginning,” Philippe Gijsels, a Brussels-based senior equity strategist at Fortis Global Markets, which has $62 billion under management, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “You will see a very nasty shakeout.”

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The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell for a second day, losing 3.5 percent to 922.07 as of 11:36 a.m. in New York. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index declined 5.3 percent. The MSCI World Index slid 5.1 percent.

The slump in oil, gold and copper prices dragged Brazilian stocks lower, sending the Bovespa Index to a 6.3 percent retreat. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index sank 7.9 percent, reaching the lowest level since May 2005.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 5.4 percent. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. lost 8.8 percent after a newspaper said earnings probably dropped by half.

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