US mkts plunge as US new-home sales fell to all-time low

Here is a transcript of Varinder Bansal’s comments on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

US markets declined after 4-days of gain as US new-home sales fell to all-time low, number of Americans receiving jobless benefits surged to a record & companies continue to report dismal set of numbers.

Dow Jones ended down 226 points 2.7% at 8,149, which had gained 3.7% in previous 3 days. Nasdaq was down by 3.24% or 50.5 points at 1,508 and S&P 500 tumbled 3.3% or 29 points at 845.

Barack Obama said Wall Street's bonuses are 'outrageous' and ‘shameful’.

Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney said that "bad bank" Obama's strategy won't directly get credit flowing again. IMF said that worldwide bank losses may reach $2.2 trillion

Asian markets declined for the 1st time in last 4 days. Nikkei was down 3.3%. Hang Seng and Straits Times fell 1.5-1.7%. South Korea was down 0.7%. China & Taiwanese market shut for trade today.

European markets ended on a weak note. CAC, DAX and FTSE were down 2-2.5%.

Commodities

Crude oil trades remained unchanged around $42 a barrel. Gold gained nearly 2% at over $905/ounce. Silver gained 1.5% to settle $12.15/ounce.

Global Economic Data

US Initial jobless claims surged to a record; rose by 3,000 last week to 588,000, more than expected

US Durable-goods orders down for 5th mth ; down 2.6% in Dec, more than expected

US new-home sales fell to an all-time low; tumbled 14.7% to 331,000 annual rate, the slowest pace on record ((expected was 400,000))

Japan’s factory output slumped 9.6% in December and unemployment surged

Global Movers & Shakers

Bank of America tumbles 8.3%, by Citigroup lost 7.4%, JPMorgan down 8%

Wells Fargo lost 11% (was up 33% a day ago))

Allstate (largest publicly-traded home and auto insurer) tumbles 21%, reported a huge loss which raised concern that the co may end its 14-year streak of paying dividend. S&P cut its credit rating

Insurance Cos: Prudential lost 15%, Metlife down 9.7%

Ford down 4%, reported $5.88 bn loss but said it had enough cash on hand to continue operations and would not require government bailout help

Kodak tumbled 29%, posted an unexpected loss and said it would cut up to 4,500 jobs

Qualcomm down 4.5%, slashed its full-year revenue forecast

Data To Watch

U.S. Advance 4Q GDP Data ((economists expect economy to contract at 5.5% annual rate last quarter, the worst performance since 1982))

US Consumer Sentiment

US Employment Cost Index

Japanese Housing Starts