Thursday, September 01, 2011

Stocks Drop In Response to Worsening Economic Crisis

Stocks Drop, Ending Six-Day Advance

By Lynn Thomasson - Sep 1, 2011

Asian stocks fell, paring the biggest weekly gain since March, and U.S. and U.K. index futures dropped ahead of an American jobs report that may show unemployment exceeds 9 percent. Copper fell for a second day and oil declined.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1.1 percent as of 11:56 a.m. in Tokyo, the first decline in seven days. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.6 percent and contracts on the FTSE 100 Index fell 1.4 percent. Copper in London declined 0.4 percent and oil retreated 0.4 percent to $88.57 a barrel. Ten-year Treasury note yields were little changed at 2.13 percent.

“The U.S. recovery remains anemic, with lingering concerns over job creation and house prices,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage $1 billion in equities at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. “Expectations are relatively low for tonight’s jobs data.”

Asian stocks have climbed this week after concern the global economy may slow sent the regional benchmark to its biggest loss since May 2010 last month. Data today from the U.S. Labor Department may show that employers added fewer workers in August and estimates indicate that Germany’s government next week will report factory orders fell for the first time in four months.

To contact the reporters on this story: Lynn Thomasson in Hong Kong at lthomasson@bloomberg.net; Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

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