Dark day for faltering LatAm stocks

Stock indexes worldwide plummeted in trading on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by 514 points or roughly 5.7% while Japan’s Nikkei average decreased by 6.8%. Latin American indexes were not spared the rod and posted some ugly losses:

• Chile - The blue-chip IPSA stock index dropped 6.3% while the general IGPA index fell 4.8% to 11,466.04 points.
• Mexico – The country’s primary stock index stumbled by 7%, the worst decline in over eight years.
• Brazil – Action on Latin America’s biggest stock market in Brazil had to be briefly halted after slumping by over 10%. (The Bovespa would eventually close with a 9.5% loss).
• Argentina – The day’s biggest loser was Argentina where the Buenos Aires stock market nosedived by as much as 18% during trading. (Traders were reportedly worried over the nationalization of ten pension funds by the government).
  

Sadly, the worst may be yet to come; early Thursday trading in Asia has been painful with the Nikkei falling by over 7%.

Image- ABC News
Sources (English)- BBC News, IHT, Bloomberg, Reuters, Xinhua, UPI, AFP
Sources (Spanish)- Milenio