Global stock markets plunge

Stock markets around the world have fallen dramatically today. This is following the ongoing events in the financial world and related statements by several United Kingdom politicians, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The British FTSE 100 index was one the indices that today suffered from large falls. It fell by 5.00% to slip below the four thousand mark, at 3,883.36 points.

Two of the major United States indices saw falls of over two per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 252.01 points (2.90%) to 8,439.24 by 17:30 UTC, while the Nasdaq Composite index experienced a 2.30% drop.

South American markets performed particularly badly today. By 17:30 UTC, the Argentinean MERVAL index had fallen by almost six per cent to 906.160 points, while the Brazilian Bovespa fell by 6.89% (2,328.45 points) to a value of 31,490.04.

David Buik of BGC Partners commented on today's falls. "It's carnage," he said. "Confidence is shot to ribbons. We need action now. It is a catastrophe that we have got to recession, but we have got to learn to live with it, and that means saving the markets."

Market data