European markets in the red
STOCK markets take a breather. In Paris the CAC 40 tumbled 1.94%, to finish the session in 4000 exactly 3 points at 986.63 points. The announcement of action against the U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs has literally showered the markets.
The indices that had evolved sawtooth most of the day were immediately plunged. Almost everywhere, investors chose to pocket their gains on the values that have risen more. In London, the FTSE fell 1.39% and in Frankfurt the Dax dropped 1.76%.
Wall Street had previously lined up six sessions was washed away.Shortly before the close of European stock exchanges, the Dow Jones slid 0.51% and the Nasdaq by 0.76%.
Goldman Sachs Sticky
The U.S. stock market watchdog, the SEC announced Friday it was suing the U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs to "fraud" on the sale of investment securities linked to subprime mortgages, called "subprime" ( see also page 21). The good news continued to flow as the business side as the economy fell into the background. Thus, the highly anticipated conglomerate General Electric, as well as those of Bank of America, the Internet giant Google, the specialist of AMD microprocessors, or the toy maker Mattel has exceeded all expectations.
Good news also on the side of macroeconomic indicators in the United States.Housing starts housing as the number of building permits issued rose more than expected in February. In Europe, the public debt remains a central concern. Greece announced Friday its intention to raise 1.5 billion euros in Treasury bills. Tuesday an initial public offering had already helped to raise 1.56 billion euros. The announcement comes as the Europeans and the IMF are finalizing the program of aid to Greece. Finance ministers from the euro zone met in Madrid on Friday for an update on the crisis in Greece. And a new mission of the IMF and the European Commission is expected in Athens on Monday.