Europe’s stock markets got the heebie jeebies today with the London FTSE100 tumbling over four per cent in early trading to slip below 4000 (18 months ago it was 6700).
This followed earlier huge falls in the Far East with Japan down ten per cent and South Korea, which seems to be going into some sort of meltdown, falling 11 per cent and 17 per cent in the past two days.
Sony’s profit warning was the ostensible spur in the Far East (see earlier story) but the real reason seems to be sheer, blind panic.
The only hope today looks to be Wall Street which had a reasonable day yesterday and should respond positively to Microsoft’s latest figures, released on Thursday night, which showed quarterly profits up to $4.37bn from last year’s $4.29bn.
So someone’s making some money.
It’s just that no-one else seems to believe it.