Asian markets tumble after share sell-off in the US

[jannyk]

Source: BBC

Asian markets have been hammered amid fears that the US is heading for a recession and after Wall Street posted the biggest losses since late 2008. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 4.8%, South Korea's Kospi lost 7.3%, and Australia's ASX shed 4.7%.

"You can't control it," Peter Esho, chief market analyst at City Index, told the BBC. "You have the onset of fear in the market. There are a lot of things that don't make sense." At the heart of the sell-off is the fear that ongoing debt problems in the US and Europe will slow economic growth and dent corporate profits.
On top of that, on Friday the US had its triple A credit rating cut by Standard and Poor's for the first time in history, adding to the sense of gloom surrounding the world's biggest economy.

"What's rocking the market is a growth scare," said Kathleen Gaffney of Loomis Sayles.

She said investors were concerned about "how Europe and the US are going to work their way out of a high debt burden" if the global economy slows.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14454406

[no_hypocrisy]

1. After a while, doesn't it become a self-fulfilling prophesy that this country is going into a

recession when stock markets react to each other like this?

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I'll use the D word, depression

and here are the markets in real time

http://finance.yahoo.com/intlindices?e=asia

[eleny]

3. Hang Seng is already down well over 5%

I don't understand how pivotal this Hong Kong index is. But I read that it covers the biggest companies in Hong Kong. And 5.5+% seems pretty serious at this time of day for them.

[Prometheus Bound]

4. Hang Seng down 7.5% around noon.

Some analysts are saying another 10-25% fall is possible.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110808-722762.html

[eleny]

5. It's down over 6% now

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Ok isn't that a crash? oh my

[Fuddnik]

7. US futures are deep in the red for in the morning too.

Dow -204, so, it's back some since I last checked.

Nasdaq -50

S&P -29


At 12:35am

http://money.cnn.com/data/premarket/

[Fearless]

8. Asian markets have rebounded a bit in the last half hour... still negative... but about half as much

Except the Hang Seng which is still diving... down 1,200+ now. (6%)