Turmoil On Stock Markets Continues

Instability on the stock markets continued on Friday, despite better-than-expected US jobs figures. There were sharp falls amid a crisis of confidence due to the eurozone debt crisis and concerns about weak economic recovery in the US and Europe. A fall in the US jobless rate caused the US markets to open higher and gave temporary relief to European indices. But London's FTSE and Frankfurt's Dax were soon down about 2% again. European markets had been down as much as 4% in the morning, before recovering, and then lurching back down again by mid-afternoon. US stocks recovered from a late-morning slump to end the day slightly higher. Louise Cooper is with the London based brokers BGC Partners.