4:30PM NY, 10:30 PM Frankfurt, 2:00AM Mumbai – Global Markets

Declines in Japan and Asia on lower metals and oil prices were repeated and magnified in Europe. New York fell further on bond market troubles and investors demanding better terms for junk bonds for leverage buyouts. Brazil, Turkey, Mexico, U.S., and UK led the global rout in stocks.

Metals and shipping stocks fell the most in Japan, Resources stocks declined in Australia, Cement stocks fell in India, steel and financial brokerage plunged in Korea, insurers dropped in Europe and homebuilders, banks and brokers nosedived in the U.S.

Yields edged lower on 10-year U.S. bonds and closed at 4.78% and 30-year bond rose to close at 4.95%.

Crude oil dropped $0.93 to close at $74.95 per barrel, natural gas closed 2 cents higher to $5.94 per mBtu, and gasoline futures decreased 1.2 cents to close at 207.59 cents per gallon.

Gold traded lower $11.40 to close at $675.10 per ounce, silver increased 11 cents to close at $13.44 per ounce, and copper futures lost or $180 to close at $7,864 per metric ton.

Dow Jones plunged 311.50 to 13,473.57, Nasdaq plummeted 48.83 to 2,599.34, and S&P 500 sunk 35.40 to 1,482.69. FTSE 100 Index in the U.K. closed down 203.10 to 6,251.20, in Tokyo Nikkei 225 closed at 17,702.09, down 156.33, and Brazil iBovespa lost 2,027.37 to close at 53,973.93.

Sell-off started in Japan, accelerated in Europe, and culminated on Wall Street, but for different reasons.

The global rout in stocks followed declines in metals and energy prices in Asia, strength in euro, and flight to treasury bonds in the U.S. Investors around the world demanded higher interest rates for emerging market bonds, riskier bonds in the U.S. and Europe that powered so much of so called private equity boom in the recent years.

Home builders in New York trading fell on losses from D R Horton and Beazer Homes. Horton slipped 4% and Beazer plunged 12%. June new home sales dropped 6.6% from May and 22% lower from a year ago to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 834,000. Countrywide Financial (CFC: chart), largest mortgage lender in the U.S., fell 4.4% after losing 15% in the previous two sessions. The company earnings, widely perceived as a key indicator of housing market health, started the sell-off three days ago in stocks after reporting 33% lower earnings.

Bear Stearns (BSC: chart) and Lehman Brothers (LEH: chart) fell 7% and Goldman Sachs declined 6% on the worries that brokers will be stuck with a large amount of unsold high-risk debts. Citigroup, J P Morgan, Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro fell more than 3.5% and Barclays fell 5%.

ExxonMobil earnings fell 1% on higher production cost but earnings at Royal Dutch Shell jumped 18% despite production problems in Nigeria. Ford reported its first profit in two years and improved its cash flow loss forecast for the year on higher cost cutting.

Apple (AAPL: chart) jumped 4.1% but traded as high as 7% during the session on higher than expected earnings and optimism about iPhone sales. The sell-off curtailed the gain in the stock.

Latin American Markets closed sharply lower across the region led by a fall of 3.98% in Argentina followed by 3.6% decline in Brazil, and 3.4% decrease in Mexico. Brazil and Mexico recovered from an earlier loss of 5% and Argentina recovered from a loss of 6%.

In Sao Paolo trading iBovespa Index plunged 3.6% to 53,973.93 on declines in the U.S. and Europe. Petrobras, CVRD, Lojas Renner fell nearly 5% at the worst of the market before the thirty minutes of close. The index recovered some of the losses in the last twenty minutes. TAM Air and Gol Air fell 3% on the worries that lower traffic at Sao Paolo airport may hurt the earnings.

In Mexico City trading IPC Index fell 1,106.93 to 29,996.60 on the credit market worries in New York. American Movil sharply fell 5%, mining company Grupo Mexico fell 7%, and the baking and confectionary company Grupo Bimbo, lost 6%.

1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European markets tumbled to a 4-month low, led by insurers.

European stock markets posted Thursday the second biggest one-day drop of the year, dragged down by continued worries about the credit market and subsequent heavy losses in the shares of insurers. Resource companies also showed considerable weakness. Subprime market concerns are threatening to grow on concern mergers and acquisitions will decrease due to difficulties in financing the takeovers. The U.K. posted the steepest decline, down 3.2%, followed by France, down 2.8%, and Germany losing 2.4%.

In Frankfurt Siemens, Deutsche Postbank and MAN led decliners. Siemens retreated 5.6 percent, Deutsche Postbank declined 4.7%, and truck maker MAN lost 5%. Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, dropped 2.8%, following a 3.4% drop in the shares of Credit Suisse.

In Paris stocks fell to a 5-month low, led by Pernod Ricard SA and STMicroelectronics. Pernod Ricard dropped 5.2%, while chip maker STMicroelectronics lost 2.7%. Insurers were also under pressure, with Axa falling down 4.9%. Elsewhere, Atos, computer services provider, tumbled 5.3%.

In London insurers were among the worst performers, with Legal & General falling 8.2% on a lower-than-expected operating profit and plans to buy back 1 billion pounds of shares. Aviva was another notable decliner, falling 5.4%. Admiral Group, car insurer and broker, fell 5%, while Amlin Plc, a Lloyd's of London insurer of spacecraft and yachts, slipped 4%. Investment firms also declined, with Man Group falling over 4%. Britain's largest phone company BT Group fell 5.3% after it said Q1 profit unexpectedly rose 31%.