Wall Street and European bourses slump

Sell, sell, sell was the cry on the floor of the New York stock exchange as trading started with a massive fall in the indexes.

Following a public holiday yesterday – ironically Labor Day, the celebration of workers – this was the first opportunity US investors had to dump shares since last Friday’s disastrous , moribund jobs report. There was a complete lack of hiring last month by US companies, greatly increasing fears that the world’s largest economy is slipping back into recession.

For Europe’s bourses, it is another rollercoaster day with trading very choppy after yesterday’s sharp losses investors remain very worried about the state of the US economy and even more so about the euro zone.

European bank shares hit their lowest in almost 30 months on concerns about the political handling of the euro zone debt crisis. Those banks have lent billions to countries now seen as at risk of default.

Investors feel the stock markets are too risky and instead of shares they are buying the safer government bonds – like Germany’s – as well as gold and the Swiss franc.

Copyright © 2012 euronews