Japan’s Nikkei suffers worst day since ‘Black Monday’

Earlier this year, the Nikkei 225 index surpassed 40,000 points. critical point On March 4, the index rose to 40,245.69 points, becoming the best performing major global stock index at the time.–Five months later, things aren’t looking so rosy. It has since wiped out all of its gains for the year and swung into the red. this The Nikkei index closed at 31,458.42 points, down 4,451.28 points, entering the bear market zone. The decline was 12.4%. It was the index’s worst day since Black Monday in 1987. Share prices were hit by a stronger yen and poor U.S. economic data.

Global stock markets plunge

Traders in Tokyo reacted to a report on Friday showing that U.S. employers slowed hiring in July by much more than economists had expected. Global stock markets plunged on fears that the U.S. could be in a recession. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2% and the Shanghai Composite dropped 1.5%. The story was similar in Europe, with London’s FTSE 100 opening more than 2% lower, Paris’ CAC 40 down 2.2% and Frankfurt’s DAX down 2.4%. In the U.S., the Dow fell 2.6%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.4% and the S&P 500 fell 3%.

“The market was nervous until Friday., But the weak jobs data did trigger a profound change around the world,” explain “We’ve seen some shocking moves … Asian markets are breaking down,” said Jim Reid, a strategist at Deutsche Bank. according too Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle predicts a 25% chance of a U.S. recession in 2025, compared with the leading Wall Street bank’s previous forecast of 15%. However, he sees no need to panic because “the data generally look good” and “there are no major financial imbalances.”

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