Deepening fears about the financial crisis in Europe and doubts about a $700-billion United States rescue sent global stocks plummeting on Monday.
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/ 24 January 2008
French bank Société Générale (SocGen) disclosed one of the biggest alleged frauds in financial history on Thursday, adding to a wave of gloom surrounding world markets battered by credit market losses. SocGen, France’s second-biggest listed bank, said it had uncovered an ”exceptional fraud” by one of its traders. It said this would cost the group â,¬4,9-billion.
Oil prices vaulted to a record a barrel on Wednesday as violence in Nigeria, tight energy stockpiles and a weaker dollar triggered a surge of speculative buying, dealers said. Oil’s climb to the psychologically key triple-digit price helped send stocks tumbling on Wall Street and further darkened an already gloomy economic outlook in the United States.