This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/7675279.stm
The article has changed 22 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 7 | Version 8 |
---|---|
European shares lose early gains | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
European shares opened higher on Friday taking heart from the gains on Wall Street on Thursday, but retreated later in the morning. | |
The FTSE 100 was up 0.3%, the Dax in Frankfurt was unchanged and the Cac 40 in Paris was up 0.5%, having all earlier been up by more than 3%. | |
It followed gains of 4.7% in New York and 2.8% on Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index. | It followed gains of 4.7% in New York and 2.8% on Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index. |
It comes at the end of a week of rallies and slumps, unseen since the crash of 1987. | |
Rallies and slumps | Rallies and slumps |
Stock markets have been rising and falling on alternate days as investors try to decide how severe the global economic downturn will be. | |
"This is the most volatile week we've seen," said Thierry Lacraz, strategist at Swiss bank Pictet in Geneva. | "This is the most volatile week we've seen," said Thierry Lacraz, strategist at Swiss bank Pictet in Geneva. |
"The sole intelligent thing is to remain on the sidelines and not make any huge bets." | "The sole intelligent thing is to remain on the sidelines and not make any huge bets." |
| Among other developments:
|
Eyes on New York | |
With Friday trading still to come, the Dow is 6.3% higher than it was at the start of the week. | |
In New York, the Dow Jones closed up 400 points on Thursday, although it had been down by as much as 400 earlier in the session. | |
It followed Wednesday's session, when it had also suffered its worst fall since 1987. | |
Overall, it has been an extraordinary week of volatile trading. | |
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended the week 5% higher than it had started, despite suffering its worst single day percentage fall since 1987 on Thursday, when it fell 11%. |