The European markets opened sharply lower on Wednesday and are trading in the negative territory, tracking heavy losses on Wall Street and in the Asian markets on the back of mounting global financial crisis.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell and are trading below $90 a barrel on fears of a global economic slowdown. In European trading, the crude oil for November contract is losing $2.16 to $87.90.
The 15-nation euro is showing volatility against the U.S. dollar, British pound and Japanese yen. As of now, the euro-dollar pair is worth 1.3627 and the euro-pound pair is at 0.7776. Against yen, the euro is currently worth 136.49.
On Tuesday, the Dow and the S&P 500 set five-year closing lows, while the Nasdaq set a four-year closing low. The Dow closed down more than 508 points or 5.1% at 9,447, the Nasdaq fell more than 108 points or 5.8% to 1,754, and the S&P 500 shed more than 60 points or 5.7% to 996.
In the Asia-Pacific region Wednesday, Japan's Nikkei closed down 9.38%, Australia's All Ordinaries indexes lost 4.96%, China's Shanghai Composite index receded 3.04%, South Korea's KOSPI declined 5.81% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 8.17%.
Among the European indices, the FTSEurofirst index of top European companies is falling 4.59% to 957.5 and the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index is retreating 4.45% to 2.751.24.
Around Europe, the U.K's FTSE 100 index is losing 3.26% to 4.454.99, France's CAC 40 index is down 4.58% at 3,561.42 and Germany's DAX 30 index is dipping 4.30% to 5,097.70.
Among the financial stocks, Dexia is plunging 14.23%, Deutsche Bank is losing 7.61% and Barclays is sliding 6.75%.
On the other hand, HBOS is surging 19.57% on its deal to sell its Australian unit BankWest and other assets to Commonwealth Bank of Australia for A$2.1 billion. Alliance Trust is also jumping 33.33%.
Mining stocks are trading in the red, with Kazakhmys slumping 10.51% Antofagasta losing about 8% and BHP Billiton declining 7.17%.
In economic news, the final report of second-quarter Euro-Zone GDP is scheduled for release today. Earlier today, the Customs Office said that the French foreign trade deficit expanded to EUR5.38 billion in August from EUR4.92 billion deficit in July, which was revised from a EUR4.83 billion deficit reported initially. In addition, the August shortfall in trade was bigger than the expected deficit of EUR4.5 billion.
Meanwhile, traders in the U.S. await the release of the pending home sales report for August. Additionally, the Department of Energy is scheduled to release U.S. oil inventories data.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.