US markets fall

Nasdaq and Dow Jones take a tumble...

US markets dropped today but operated without any technical hitches after re-opening following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC last Tuesday. By 13:30 (EST) the Nasdaq had fallen 95.79 points to 1599.51 and the Dow Jones index fell 614.17 points to 8991.34. Despite the fall, Brian Finnerty, head of Nasdaq trading at C.E. Unterberg Towbin, told CNN the market had been fairly "subdued" and "stable." Markets in Europe closed up responding positively to news of interest rate cuts by both European and US central banks. In London the FTSE 100 closed up three per cent, while in Germany the Dax index closed up more than four per cent. Telecoms shares responded well with Deutsche Telekom up 8.6 per cent to E15.86 (£10.04) and Telefonia up 8.3 per cent to E10.95 (£6.90). Technology stocks were also strong with Nokia up 8.6 per cent to E17.09 (£10.77), Ericsson up 4.6 per cent to SEK38.90 (£2.53) and Philips up six per cent to E20.69 (£13.04). However, in the US the news was not as positive with telecommunications stocks down 3.91 per cent, wireless stocks down 11.97 and Tech Blue Chips down 19.35 per cent.