Global stock market indexes looked weak on Monday morning after a new report suggested that Europe might already be in recession – bad news for U.S. exports, the one area of strength for the U.S. economy.
U.S. stock index futures were down with about an hour before markets open, suggesting stocks will fall at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average fell 27 points, to 9271. Futures for the broader S&P 500 fell 2 points, to 965.
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was unchanged and Germany's DAX index rose 0.5 per cent in afternoon trading – both down from earlier gains thanks to a pessimistic report on the economy. The European Commission noted that the area has probably already fallen into recession and growth will stagnate at just 0.1 per cent in 2009.
Economists expect the European Central Bank and the Bank of England will cut their respective key interest rates by half of a percentage point on Nov. 6.
However, at least the credit crisis has shown more signs of abating, with the rates that banks charge one another for loans falling on Monday. According to Bloomberg News, the London interbank offered rate for three-month loans and overnight loans fell to their lowest levels since the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. on Sept. 15.
