Markets Weak As Political Uncertainty Mounts Across Europe| April 24, 2012.

Overnight markets all finished the session weaker as fears mount about the state of the European economy coupled with political uncertainty in both France and the Netherlands.

The Dow Index fell 102 points to finish the session at 12,927 while the S&P 500 declined 11.59 points to close at 1,366. Earlier in the session the Dax Index plummeted more than 3.3 percent to close at 6523.

The euro fell for the first time in five days against the yen after French President Nicolas Sarkozy was been beaten by Socialist leader Francois Hollande in the first round of elections in France. Over in the Netherlands the budget talks in the fell apart over the weekend with current Prime Minister Mark Rutte announcing that he will resign from his post, raising concerns over the country’s ability to hold its triple-A credit rating. EURJPY (see above chart) traded down from overnight highs of 107.82 to recent lows of 106.33.

On the economic front, German manufacturing sector unexpectedly declined at the fastest pace in nearly three years in April. Yesterday afternoon the Chinese PMI survey showed that factories posted their best performance this year as a measure of new business rose from multi-month lows.

Source
Bloomberg, Dow Jones News

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