U.S stocks going down

On Thursday, U.S. stocks were down when Microsoft's proposed job cuts and disappointing earnings shook investors, while economic data showed further deterioration in the labor and housing markets. Microsoft Corp's stock fell nearly 12 percent at one point in the session to its lowest level since 1998 and was among the top drags on both the Dow and Nasdaq, after the world's largest software maker said it would cut up to 5 percent of its estimated work force over the next 18 months. The company cautioned that it could no longer offer profit forecasts for the rest of the fiscal year after posting a quarterly profit that fell short of expectations. The tech bellwether shook up Wall Street by releasing its earnings before the opening bell, instead of after the close as expected.

HSBC turned down the hopes for U.K stocks

Britain's benchmark stock index reversed earlier gains to trade flat on Monday, as oil shares tracked rising energy prices, while Europe's biggest bank HSBC after its first-half results.

At 1059 GMT the FTSE 100 was down 1.8 points, or 0.1 percent at 5,352.9. The blue-chip index lost 1.1 percent on Friday and is now over 17 percent lower this year.

HSBC added more than 1 percent before falling 2.3 percent after it said its first-half profit fell 28 percent, in line with forecasts, as a $14 billion hit on bad debts on U.S. home loans and asset writedowns offset strong Asian growth.

Strong Comeback

After a sharp fall, U.S stocks rebounded on Tuesday rising more than two percent on a sharp slide in oil prices. Data showed that the rate of monthly price declines in the U.S housing market is gradually slowing down and a separate report showed that the mood of the American consumers improved drastically for the first time in six months in July this year. U.S crude prices dropped more than 2percent by relieving concern about inflation and consumer spending and brightening the outlook for a wide range of companies including retailers and airlines. After the share sale, sentiment on financial stocks began to shift with investors saying that Merrill’s latest write-down might be a sign that banks are nearly through purging their balance sheets of bad mortgage debt. Experts say that there is always the hope that this might be the last big financial blowup and some people think that U.S might be getting towards the end in terms of large write-downs.

Hawkish comments lifted U.S dollar

Hawkish comments on US interest rates from Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser lifted the US dollar Tuesday. Experts are suggesting that the US interest rates would have to rise “sooner rather than later” in order to combat inflation. The greenback rallied by nearly one and a half cents against the euro in New York trading, and advanced by one yen to close adjacent to a two-week high against the Japanese currency. But in London, sterling lost ground to the US dollar in the afternoon when Plosser’s commented.

Oil Down....U.S stocks up

U.S. stocks rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday as oil prices slid over $3 a barrel, taking the edge off a raft of disappointing earnings from American Express and others as well as a weak outlook from iPod maker Apple. Oil, which last week had its biggest weekly decline ever, lost 2.4 percent in New York as the U.S. dollar rose easing some worries about the impact of higher energy costs on consumers and businesses. But the Dow Jones was lifted by Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart and Caterpillar.

Drop in Oil helped the U.S indices

U.S stock market did well on Friday with financials helping to drive the market higher on the back of stronger-than expected results from the likes of Citigroup and JPMorgan. Drop in the Oil market helped the U.S stock market to go high. S&P500 and Nasdaq were high on Friday last week. Financial Services lifted the major U.S indices while the regional banks were on e of the heaviest drags. Most of the major financial institutions have reported that the U.S banking system was holding up in a fragile economy, so there's going to be attention on the flow coming in from the regional banks. And it expected that they would be watching for write-offs on the regional banks.

Oil down?

Thursday, U.S stocks soared on a sharp drop in oil. Google, Microsoft and Merrill Lynch showed disappointing results. But it is expected that the same case may not be in Friday of this week. Oil prices fell more than $5, this steep decline in oil eased some concerns about the threat of inflation on an already fragile U.S. economy.

So, down in oil prices might help the Asian markets in a positive way

Dow down?

Dow industrials closed below 11,000 for the first time in two years on Tuesday as doubts about the U.S. plan to rescue mortgage finance companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae hurt financial stocks and tumbling oil prices hurt energy shares.

Freddie and Fannie shares plunged over 25 percent on fears that a government plan to stabilize the companies will dilute the value of their shares. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the plan was designed to be a backstop.

U.S banking sector health is a concern

Monday, U.S stocks did not work well as there was worry about the health of the U.S banking sector when last week’s collapse of IndyMac outweighed earlier optimism over the government’s plan to stabilize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stocks. On the other hand, regional banks were also under fire as investors fretted about the possibility of more bank failures when regulators seized the mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc following withdrawals by panicked clients. If this situation continues, then there would be real panic in U.S housing economy.

Last week ...U.S stocks

Last week, Fannie and Freddie’s shares were hammered last week amid mounting fears of capital constraints and played a major role in the market’s weekly decline. On Friday, Treasury and Federal Reserve unveiled sweeping steps to shore up the troubled mortgage financing giants if need be and head off a potential meltdown in global financial markets. Fed said the companies could access its discount window for emergency cash. The Treasury separately said that it would temporarily increase its line of credit to the two, as well as purchase equity in them, if needed. The move by the Fed echoed its emergency action to help rescue investment bank Bear Stearns in March, when it opened the discount window emergency lending facility to investment banks for the first time since the Great Depression