Facebook Shares Down 37% since IPO

Investors fled the stock in droves because they are unhappy with Facebook’s first financial report as a public company on Thursday, even as Mark Zuckerberg brag about its growth prospects to industry analysts. Facebook’s stock lost 18% of its value on Thursday. The first blow came during regular trading largely because of the poor results posted by Zynga, the social game company that uses Facebook as a platform.

Facebook stock continued to plummet in after hours trading after Facebook announced its own numbers, dipping below $24, a record low. Since going public two months ago at $38 a share, Facebook shares have lost 37% of their value.

The company said its revenue for the quarter climbed to $1.18 billion, from $895 million; most of it came from advertising.

The company reported a net loss of $157 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with net income of $240 million, or 11 cents a share for the same quarter last year. Much of that was because of stock compensation, and on an adjusted basis, the company posted a profit of 12 cents a share, or $295 million, meeting analysts’ expectations.

Zuckerberg has rarely spoken publicly about the company he built in his dorm room eight years ago. But nothing he and his lieutenants said on Thursday about their plans to make money by advertising to Facebook users seemed to reassure investors.

Spanish government bonds dive on bailout fears

* Risk of Spanish bailout grows; bonds in free fall
* Greek funding worries add to peripheral pressure
* Bund yields set to mark new lows on safe-haven flows

Spanish government bonds sank on Monday, pushing yields sharply higher, on fears the government will lose access to debt markets and need a full bailout as its regions began lining up for financial help.

Worry over Greece resurfaced with international lenders scheduled to gather in Athens to discuss the terms of further rescue payments, after its prime minister said the country was mired in a "Great Depression"..

As risk aversion dominated financial markets, five- and 10-year German government bond yields hit new lows and U.S. T-note yields hit their lowest since the early 1800s.

The Spanish region of Murcia moved closer to following Valencia in seeking financial aid from the government, which set up an 18 billion euro fund earlier this year to help the regions refinance their debt. Media reported half a dozen others were ready to do likewise..

"Given the market reaction on the back of the news that more and more regions are looking to tap into the liquidity fund..., it will be very difficult for Spain to circumvent further support for itself," said Norbert Aul, a rate strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

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Asian Shares Higher on Stimulus Hopes; Australia Hits 7-Week High

*Nikkei gains 0.4%, Hang Seng Index down 0.1%, S&P ASX 200 up 1.1%

*Asian stock rise on stimulus hopes

*Philippine peso hits a four-year high against the dollar


News on European and U.S. central banks will issue more stimulus measures to help economic growth benefited Asian shares. Asian shares were mostly higher on Wednesday, pushing Australian stocks to a seven-week high and the Philippine peso reaching its strongest in four years.

Investors are looking towards a European Central Bank rate decision meeting on Thursday, as well as U.S. employment data on Friday, which is expected to encourage the Federal Reserve to implement more policy easing. Sentiment was also helped by news that orders for U.S. factory goods were up in May, reversing two months of declines.

The price of oil mainained its 4.7% overnight gain, although it dropped to $86.63 a barrel later in the day. Higher crude oil prices gave a boost to oil companies: in Australia Aurora Oil and Gas climbed 2.8% and in Japan Inpex Corp gained 2.9%.

Australia's S&P ASX 200 was up 1.1% to 4172.20 as resource companies led broad-based gains after commodity prices surged and offshore equities keep rising on hopes of policy stimulus. BHP Billiton gained 2.1%, Rio Tinto was up 2.7% and Fortescue Metals Group was 3.7% higher.

Gold eased to $1613.20 an ounce.

Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's Kospi were both up 0.4%, at 9104.17 and 1874.45 respectively.

In China, the Shanghai Composite was less than 0.1% lower at 2227.31, while the Hang Seng Index was also 0.1% lower at 19709.75.

The euro lost some of its 0.3% overnight gains $1.2582; Dollar was at 79.75 Japanese yen.

Regional risk currencies gained on the risk-on sentiment. The greenback went down to 1,132.70 against the won early in the session, a two month low, owing to dollar selling by exporters. Late in the afternoon the won was at 1136.40, compared with 1,138.30 on late Tuesday.

The currency star performer was in the Philippines where the dollar hit a four-year low against the Philippine peso at 41.65 to the dollar. The strengthening currency forced the central bank to intervene with traders saying that it bought around $100 million to support the dollar and weaken the peso.