Losing Euro ~ re Euro Shares Turn Red, Led Down by RBS:
Euro markets are losing blood again as usual.
The Doom/Gloom comments are the just same as what we are faced with in global markets -- Plutocracy which is the gap between rich and poor getting giant -- that concept applies to the corporations as well based on the Marc Faber's comment. Based on the primitive concept of survival of the fittest, the plutocracy is well fed starving the rest -- a totally contrary belief of Dr. Martin Luther King's belief which is helping oppressed as well as the Lincoln's belief.
Euro Shares Turn Red, Led Down by RBS EUROPE, STOCK MARKET, EARNINGS, M&A, ECONOMY Reuters | 19 Jan 2009 | 08:58 AM ET
European shares surrendered gains and turned negative by early afternoon on Monday as banks extended losses, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which reported the biggest-ever loss in UK corporate history.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 1.5 percent at 791.78 points, having been as high as 817.56 earlier.
Banks took the most points off the index, with RBS itself tumbling 48.4 percent.
"It's the financials, led by Royal Bank of Scotland," said Giuseppe-Guido Amato, strategist at Lang & Schwarz in Germany, said.
RBS said it would report a loss of up to 28 billion pounds ($41.3 billion) for 2008, including a huge goodwill hit on its purchase of parts of ABN Amro in 2007.
The DJ Stoxx banks index was the top sectoral loser, down 8.5 percent.
BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Lloyds were down between 8.1 and 35 percent.
Barclays fell 7.1 percent, extending Friday's 25 percent losses despite confirming that its full-year profit would beat consensus. # Britain Launches 2nd Bank Bailout Plan
Investors trained their sights on possible moves from the incoming U.S. administration, which has said it will make its bailout funds work harder to get credit flowing again to cash-starved consumers and companies.
In Washington, a senior adviser to Barack Obama, who will be sworn in as president on Tuesday, said the new team would soon change the way the second half of the $700 billion bank rescue scheme was run to make it more effective.
AXA's Wenzel said: "Markets are being helped by the Obama bonus. He's made it clear he will act."
But Wenzel warned: "We don't see a major pick-up in the next few weeks. The reporting season is just beginning, and there will be downwards earnings revisions."
Oils Rise
After drugmakers, the oil companies added most to the index, though futures for March had slipped nearly 2 percent and were trading below $42 a barrel.
Total, ENI, BP and Royal Dutch Shell were up between 1.6 percent and 3.2 percent.
Spain's IBEX was down 1.6 percent because of Spain's sovereign ratings being cut by S&P.
Swedish Match rose 2 percent after Dresdner Kleinwort upgraded it to "buy" from "add," saying earnings will be boosted by lower tax and favorable foreign exchange movements.
Shares in German chemicals group BASF fell 4.3 percent after the company said the decline in its business was greater than expected in November and will impact earnings negatively.
UK supermarket group Morrison was 3 percent higher ahead of a trading statement on Thursday, with press reports suggesting it will have outperformed most of its rivals over the Christmas period.
U.S. markets will remain closed on Monday for a national holiday. Copyright 2009 Reuters. Click for restrictions.