From the Associated Press, August 4/5:
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index plunged 6.7% early Monday before recovering some lost ground, extending sell-offs that began last week.
The Nikkei had shed more than 2,400 points to 33,488.08 about a half-hour after opening. By about an hour after trading began, the index was down 5.3%, or about 1,900 points, at 34,010.69.
The market’s broader TOPIX index fell as much as 7.8% before recovering to trade down 6.6%.
Stocks tumbled Friday on worries the U.S. economy could be cracking under the weight of high interest rates meant to tame inflation.
A report showing hiring by U.S. employers slowed last month by much more than expected has convulsed financial markets, vanquishing the euphoria that had taken the Nikkei to all-times highs of over 42,000 in recent weeks.
“To put it mildly, the spike in volatility-of-volatility is a spectacle that underlines just how jittery markets have become,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. “The real question now looms: Can the typical market reflex to sell volatility or buy the market dip prevail over the deep-seated anxiety brought on by this sudden and sharp recession scare?”
Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan’s Taiex saw the largest decline, sinking 5.7%. Market heavyweight and computer chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. lost 5.3%....
....MUCH MORE
