Europe and Britain
The equities rally lost steam last week as poor corporate news and further anthrax scares caused losses on Thursday and Friday. With Asian and North American indexes suffering from nervousness, British and European indexes followed suit. Anthrax scares continued, keeping the potential for further terrorist attacks in investors' minds while tension increased in the Middle East.

There were a variety of reasons, both domestic and international, that prompted the latest market slide, including unease at the continuing war on terrorism. And domestic economic data did not help, giving a mixed picture of conditions. While September British retail sales were slightly weaker than expected, for example, inflation remained under the Bank of England's benchmark 2.5 percent rate. But there was more bad news when the German Ifo business climate index, one of the most closely watched barometers of German economic activity, came in much lower than expected.

Asia
Tokyo shares ended the week on a positive note led by gains for high technology issues, but gains were capped by lingering nervousness about upcoming interim earnings results. On the week, however, all Asian indexes followed here ended on lower with the exception of the South Korean Kospi. The Hong Kong Hang Seng continues to be rattled by all events U.S. However, mainland China shares have helped buoy the index. The Asian economies, especially because they are export oriented, are being hit hard by the world slowdown in economic growth.

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