Financial markets suffered this week as fears rose that the economy is descending back into a recession. Factors contributing to the turmoil include the eurozone debt crisis, disappointing US manufacturing figures and a statement made by Morgan Stanley which warned that both Europe and the US are very close to going back into recession. Combined, the factors led to traders manically selling shares off.
Many eurozone countries including Finland, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia have made it clear that they want Greece to put assets up against the £95Bn loan as security to be taken in the event of non repayment. To add to the tension, America is becoming more and more concerned that the financial problems in the eurozone will start to affect the US.
All the fears and concerns around the globe have led to substantial drops in the market with the FTSE 100 dropping 4.5%, Dow Jones closing 3.7% lower and the yield on UK government bonds falling to the lowest yet this century.
These losses are expected to continue over the weekend. The only ray of hope was the statement made by Hewlett- Packard which has illustrated their intentions to buy Autonomy, the software firm, for around £7.1Bn. This has not only resulted in a 75% rise for Autonomy but also increases for other software firms Arm Holdings and Misys.

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About The Author

Lee Murphy

MAAT and ICPA accountant, with a passion for making accountancy and bookkeeping accessible. Other interests include cloud-based software development for web and mobile access, keeping fit, reading, and entrepreneurship.

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