Investors buy gold and government bonds and sell shares in banks and companies exposed to lower commodity prices Panicked investors sought refuge in the safe havens of gold and government bonds on Thursday as a fresh spasm of global selling sent share prices crashing in Asia, Europe and North America. Banks and companies exposed to lower commodity prices were among the biggest losers in London, where theFTSE 100 Index fell by 135 points, a drop of more than 2, to 15,660. The S&P 500 fell 1.2. All three had bounced back late in the day from sharper falls but, again, financial stocks were big losers. Financial shares in the S&P have lost roughly 18 at one stage, a record low, as investors anticipated a prolonged period of sluggish growth, weak inflation and low interest rates. Investors fear that although banks have bolstered their capital positions since the last crisis, they will start to report losses on non-performing loans to energy and property companies affected by faltering growth, while their profitability will also be hit by negative interest rates. HSBC shares closed at their lowest level since the spring of 2009, when the global recession bottomed out. The three biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were all financial institutions the Prudential, Aberdeen Asset Management and Barclays which were all 7 of its value after admitting that headwinds could knock its profits this year. On a day of dramatic market moves:
Swedens central bank pushed its interest rate further into negative territory, taking it to minus 0.50 Uncertainty regarding global developments is still high, with low inflation and several central banks pursuing more expansionary monetary policy, the Riksbank said. Deutsche Bank, a major
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