4:30PM New York, 10:30PM Frankfurt, 6:30AM Sydney– Economic worries were on the top of investors mind after lower than GDP growth rates were reported for the U.S. economy.

Global Markets Update

U.S. stocks traded lower after the release of weak U.S. economic growth estimate and lowered estimates of the previous years. The economy grew at 1.9% annual rate in the second quarter and growth rate for the first quarter was lowered to 0.9% from 1%. The economy shrank at 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared to earlier estimate of a rise of 0.6%. In the earnings news, MasterCard reported a loss on settlement with American Express and Visa reported earnings rise of 41%.


North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 205.67 or 1.78% to a close of 11,378.02, S&P 500 closed down 16.88 or 1.31% to 1,267.38, and Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 4.17 or 0.18% to close at 2,325.55. In Toronto TSX Composite closed down 90.30 or 0.66% to 13,592.91.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average 4 stocks gained, 26 declined and none was unchanged.

Johnson & Johnson led the gainers in the Dow Jones Index with a rise of 0.5% followed by increases in Home Depot Inc of 0.38%, in Coca-Cola Company of 0.37% and in Wal-Mart Stores of 0.10%.

Exxon Mobil led decliners in the Dow Jones Industrial Average with a loss of 4.7% followed by losses in Boeing of 4.3%, in Walt Disney Company of 4.2%, in Caterpillar of 3.5% and in United Technologies Corp of 3.4%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 154 increased, 346 declined and none was unchanged. Of the index stocks 24 stocks rose more than 3% and 84 fell more than 3%.

Akamai Technologies led the decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 25.3% followed by losses in Consol Energy of 15.9%, in Total System Services of 11.5%, in MasterCard Inc of 9.8%, in Parker Hannifin of 9.4%, in General Growth Properties of 8.9% and in National City Corp of 8.33%.

International Paper led the gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 14% followed by gains in Motorola Inc of 12.5%, in WaMu Inc of 12.5%, in Marathon Oil of 9.6%, in Centex Corp of 8.6% and in Unum Group of 7.66%.

South American Markets Indexes

Peru led gainers in the Latin American markets with a rise of 2.8% followed by increases in Colombia of 1.40%, in Venezuela of 0.33% and in Mexico of 0.1%.

Argentina led decliners in the region with a loss of 1.54% followed by losses in Brazil of 0.8%.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 8.80 or 0.16% to 5,411.90, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 8.19 or 0.19% to close at 4,392.36 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 19.44 or 0.30% to close at 6,479.56. In Zurich trading SMI increased 32.30 or 0.45% to close at 7,141.21.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 9.02 or 0.07% to 13,376.81, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 40.50 or 0.18% closed to 22,731.10. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 40.70 or 0.82% to close 4,977.40. The KL Composite index in Malaysia increased 3.15 or 0.27% closed to 1,163.09.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 16.97 or 1.08% to close at 1,594.67, SET index in Thailand closed higher 6.42 or 0.96% to 676.32 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 25.82 or 1.13% to 2,304.51. The Sensex index in India increased 68.54 or 0.48% to 14,355.75.