Global Markets Continue Slide into Friday

Equity markets in Asia and Europe took another nosedive on Friday, following a dismal day for U.S. stock markets on Thursday that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average lose over 500 points. Asia's main stock markets opened sharply lower on Friday, before recovering some as the day continued. Japan's Nikkei Index closed down more than 3.5%, with China's Shanghai Index closing lower by more than 2%. In Europe, London's FTSE Index and Germany's DAX Index saw deep selling as well. Both indicies are down in excess of 2.5% in mid-Friday trade. Thursday precipitous fall in equity markets was the largest one-day drop since 2008. Fears were stoked over continuing Euro debt problems, a double-dip recession, and renewed uncertainty over the global economy. U.S. market indicies lost more than 4% yesterday, as a wave of broad selling hit Wall Street. The sentiment was echoed overseas in the Friday trading session. Elsewhere, according to a Reuters report, "Later Friday, Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero are expected to hold a conference call later today to discuss the crisis in the euro zone following a warning from European Commission President Jose-Manuel Barroso for a bigger rescue fund, a call which was immediately rebuffed by Germany." In an interview with CNBC Thursday, ECB head Jean-Claude Trichet said that "Governments have enormous responsibilities. We have been constant ourselves in our calls to governments...to be up to their responsibilities. At certain moments we had benign neglect of governments, benign neglect of the markets, and benign neglect of mainstream economists.”