World stocks fall after Wall Street plunge

World stocks falls this Friday following the cue from Wall Street after it suffered its worst day of the year. The anemic German trade data didn't help and it added worry that Europe is heading into recession.

Asia: Asian markets fell sharply Friday and oil prices plunged. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index tanked  1.3 percent to 15,286.25 points and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 1.9% to 23,144.81. China’s Shanghai Composite fell by 0.6% to 2,375.28. Seoul fold by 1.3 percent and Sydney and Singapore also declined.

Europe: Markets across Europe traded lower. Analysts are worried that Europe is heading to recession after Germany, Europe's biggest economy, reported their weakest year-on-year export growth in 5 years. The president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, gave no indication of any further monetary stimulus, suggesting in a speech in Washington that governments need to do more on the fiscal side.

DAX of Germany fell 1 percent to 8,921.50. Britain's FTSE-100 was down by 0.8 percent to 6,431.85 and France's CAC-40 slide by 0.7 percent to 4,111.50.

Wall Street is looking weak and is heading for more declines, with the future for the Dow Jones industrial average down 0.1 percent in pre-market electronic trading and the Standard & Poor's 500 flat. On Thursday, the Dow were down 335 points, or 2%, to 16,659, the blue chip index’s biggest drop since a 354 point slide on June 6, 2013. The Standard & Poors 500 slumped 2% to 1,928. The Nasdaq composite slid 2% to 4,378.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude plunged $1.34 to $84.43 per barrel on concerns slowing global economic growth will reduce demand while production stays high. The contract lost $1.56 on Thursday to $85.77. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost $1.17 to $89.19.

CURRENCY: The dollar rose to 107.95 yen from Thursday's 107.87 yen. The euro fell 1 U.S. cent to $1.26.

Hang Seng Index Went Down Amid Hong Kong protests

The Hang Seng index went down 1.3%, after the 1.9% decline on Monday. The total accumulated loss in September is now to more than 7%. There are fears that the ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong spread to China that may disrupt business and trading.

The ongoing political problems in Hong Kong and wariness over the potential extent of monetary policy divergence in the United States and Europe are making markets nervous and trading is cautious as the third quarter nears to a close. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 struggled to have gains and US index futures are flat. Eurozone inflation had fallen to 0.3% in September which is its weakest in five years.

Europe inflation went down to a 5-year low that raised expectations of more stimulus from the European Central Bank ECB as a result the Euro went down and stocks gain.

World stocks Slipped to one-month low Ahead of Fed Meeting

Global stock markets closed mostly lower Tuesday September 16, 2014 as investors played it safe in preparation for the Fed Meeting. U.S. central bank may raise interest rates sooner than previously expected

Germany's DAX fell 0.3 percent to 9,620.59 and France's CAC-40 declined 0.5 percent to 4,404.69. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.2 percent to 6,791.57. Wall Street appeared set for more losses. Standard & Poor's 500 futures were down 0.1 percent and Dow futures fell 0.2 percent.

The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS, which tracks shares in 45 countries, was down 0.2 percent after hitting its lowest level since mid-August earlier in the session. In Europe, the benchmark FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 was down 0.4 percent.

Asian shares also slipped. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS shed 0.7 percent to its lowest since late June, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 snapped a five-session winning streak to close down 0.2 percent.

The euro held steady at $1.2937 EUR=, hemmed in a $1.2859-$1.2980 range after a sell-off sparked by the European Central Bank's interest rate cut early this month faded.

The British pound has turned volatile in recent weeks as opinion polls narrowed ahead of Thursday's independence referendum in Scotland, which could spark a sizeable panic in U.K. markets. On Monday, the pound was 0.2 percent lower at $1.6231.

France Failed to Meet its EU budget deficit target

France announced that they will not make the EU-designated budget deficit target next year, they can only aim for 3% of national output only in 2017.

French finance minister Michel Sapin said on Wednesday the budget deficit would only be reduced to 4.3% of gross domestic product in 2015 after a level of 4.4% this year, the latter also a big overshoot of earlier estimates and the first annual rise in the deficit for four years.

He blamed the slow rate of economic growth and low inflation, saying France demanded that the EU “collectively take into account” an economic situation “unprecedented in recent European history”.

Sapin insisted France was not seeking to change or suspend the rules but wanted the deteriorating outlook for growth and inflation this year and next to be taken into account.

Paris has led calls for a more flexible interpretation of EU budget regulations along with Italy, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected any bending of the rules and said on Wednesday euro zone countries should stick to their commitments.

Abercrombie & Fitch Goes Down

Abercrombie & Fitch is now passé, teens are no longer impress with them and it shows on the market. Last Thursday August 28, 2014 they suffer a sharp drop in the shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co., after very weak sales as teenagers shop for other brands.

Abercrombie & Fitch sales fell 5.8% to $890.6 million. Revenues decreased much in a year in stores in the United States.

A Significant number of Americans have no retirement Fund

About 36% of Americans don not have money for retirement as stated by Bankrate.com. 69% of 18-29 year-olds have not saved anything, along with 33% of 30-49 year-olds, 26% of 50-64 year-olds and 14% of people 65 and older.

They also stated that Americans who do save are doing it early. Twice as many 30-49 year-olds started saving in their 20s as opposed to their 30s. But 50-64 year-olds were only slightly more likely to have started saving in their 20s than their 30s, and Americans 65 and older were almost evenly split between starting in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

The survey was done by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI).

Russia Bans Agricultural Products from Western countries in response to sanctions

Russia announced Thursday August 7, 2014 that they will be banning imports of meat, fish, milk (milk products) and fruit and vegetables from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the ban is an order from president Vladimir Putin in their response to sanctions imposed on Russia by the West over the crisis in Ukraine that was hatched by the US.

This just shows that Russia can fight back. Russia can easily get those agricultural products from other countries in Asia and South America which is cheaper and has higher quality.

Experts said that local producers will find it hard to fill the gap left by the ban, as the nation's agricultural sector has continued to suffer from poor efficiency and shortage of funds.

Russia depends heavily on imported agricultural products, their Food and agricultural imports from the U.S. amounted to $1.3 billion last year, based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and in 2013 the EU's agricultural exports to Russia totaled 11.8 billion euros ($15.8 billion).