The broad index the DJ Stoxx 600 tumbled 2

Bleak day on global stock exchanges. At the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones index assigned 3.79 at the end, to 7.552,60 points. The & Standard Poor's 500 jumped 4.56 to 789,17 points. The Nasdaq lost 4.15, to 1.470,66 points. The banks have helped weigh on us markets: Bank of America collapsed 12.03 12.32 Citigroup and JP Morgan of 12.31. General Motors has him dropped by 12.8. The Obama administration will pay additional $ 4 billion to help the constructor to escape bankruptcy.

European places have also evolved in the red, transferring between 2.43 (for London) and 4.95 (Stockholm). The broad index, the DJ Stoxx 600 tumbled 2.49, to 183,98 points, not far from its November level. In Europe, the financial contributed to pulling down the rating, after a score of Moody's emphasis on exposure to Eastern European banks (see page 29).

"The economic health of the countries of Eastern Europe, their debt burden and the risk of devaluation of the currencies associated with concern again investors already concerned about the recession in the Western world," said Charles Dautresme, strategist shares in AXA IM. "The situation in Eastern Europe is worse than during the Asian crisis," added Credit Switzerland analysts in a note, pointing to companies having their income at the Eastern (including Renault, France Telecom and Dexia).

The latest news in the developed countries have not been, nor very encouraging, despite the prospect of the Barack Obama recovery plan. Evidenced by the decline of the index of industrial activity in the New York area: the "Empire State" dropped to 34,65 points in February, while economists were waiting 23.75.

The results season at the same time continues to worry investors. In the United States, where the ball of the quarterly is well advanced, the balance appears hardly brilliant. On 385 companies of the S & P 500 having released their fourth quarter, 57 were better than expectations and 34 less well. Numbers to compare with respectively 64 and 24 on the previous eight quarters.

Very strong decay

Analysts expect to a plunge of 42.1, profits of fourth quarter is the strongest decrease since Thomson Reuters (1) communicates these data, in 1998. 7 of 10 surveyed areas reported withdrawal: in particular, the financial, who had published an aggregate loss of $ 33.9 billion, while they had reached an overall gain of 5.2 billion in 2007. Materials ( 82), including Chemistry, and the so-called consumer discretionary ( 79), including automotive, have also seen their results strongly fall. Especially in the future especially in the future is coming not 2009 so rose together the whole of the year 2009, consensus thus table 14.

The results season is much brighter in Europe. Mid-February, DJ Stoxx 600 163 companies had published their results for the fourth quarter, according to the calculations of ING: more than a quarter have disappointed the expectations of analysts, against an average of 21.4 long term. But, despite the revisions down several cyclic segments, the consensus still however displays only a very slight decline in 2009 ( 0.9). This figure will be still strongly revised decline in the opinion of economists and strategists. For example, AXA IM expects 30 in Europe in 2009. "In times of reversal of the cycle, profits fall by an average of 30 to 35 between high point and their more down", said Pierre Sabatier, strategist at Pythagoras investment.