LatAm stocks continue sinking

Stock indices worldwide have been hit hard during trading today; the Dow Jones industrial average fell below the 10,000 mark for the first time in almost four years while Europe’s Stoxx 600 index tumbled by 7.6%.

Much like in advanced industrialized nations, shares in “emerging markets” from Russia to India to Latin America have also nosedived. Mexico's Bolsa stock index fell be nearly 10% while the country’s peso dropped to its lowest point since 1997. Currencies in countries like Chile, Colombia, and Argentina depreciated by as much as 4%. The lowest point in Latin American trading occurred in Brazil’s stock market which had to be suspended twice today as the Bovespa index plunged by a whopping 16%.

Why is today turning out to be yet another dark day for the financial markets? BBC News cites analysts’ worry that massive bailouts will be insufficient to turnaround the global economic crisis:

Investors fear that official action might not be enough to stem the crisis.

This was despite a $700bn (£398bn) US bank bail-out being passed late last week, and efforts by several European countries including Germany and Denmark to boost confidence in their banks. "The fact is people are scared and the only thing they're doing is selling," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

"Investors are cleaning out portfolios and getting rid of everything because nothing seems to be working."

Image- New York Times (“A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.”)
Sources- The Latin Americanist, Marketwatch, Bloomberg, Guardian UK, BBC News