Europe and Britain
London, Paris and Frankfurt began the week on a positive note, with increases across the board. There have been various driving forces behind the recent market performance. Traders said the prime motivation is the hope for economic recovery next year following central bank moves to cut rates aggressively and a recent slide in crude oil prices. A resurgence of support for the TMT and related sectors, plus a sprinkling of gains in defensive stocks, also helped to lift the indexes. Another factor is terror among fund managers that they will miss the turnaround. However, as the week progressed the indexes did attract frequent bursts of profit taking.

When trading ended on Friday, Monday's vigor had petered out. The FTSE broke about even on the upside while the CAC broke about even on the downside. The DAX outperformed both however, and rose 1.7 percent on the week. With Wall Street closed on Thursday and open on Friday only for a half session, activity suffered from the absence of U.S. investment business.

Asia
Both the Japanese Nikkei and Hong Kong Hang Seng ended the week meekly on the upside. Recession and earnings worries combined to keep investors indecisive. Many consumer product exporters' stocks rose in anticipation of a U.S. recovery and what appears to be a relatively quick end to the war in Afghanistan. Hovering over Japanese equities are upcoming bank earnings reports. Most banks are likely to report a loss as the industry must adhere to new accounting rules. For the first time, banks have to value their equity holdings at market prices, a practice known as mark-to-market rather than at purchase price, which is much higher.

Introduction   •   Global Stock Market Indexes   •   Recap of Global Markets   •   Currencies   •  Indicator Scoreboard

The Bottom Line   •   Looking Ahead