The Nikkei Turned To The Red On Poor Releases

Asian trade: After a raft of poor economic releases, the Asian markets are currently trading in the red. A similar thing happened earlier, when U.S. markets closed posting a rather large decline, as almost every release that comes out prints a poorer number.

A report showed today that Japanese industrial production fell a whopping 9.6% in December, breaking the record decline set just one month ahead, of 8.5%. Because almost every part of the Japanese economy is based on its industry, the huge slump points to a marketable contraction in the 2009 GDP read. The unemployment rate jumped 0.5% in December, the biggest monthly increase in the last four decades, while household spending took another hit. In Japan, spending among consumers has been in a downturn for at least a decade.

Estimates are that the Japanese economy will contract 2.6% in 2009, the worst performance since the Second World War, and the poorest estimates among the industrialized countries. The U.S. and the European GDPs are expected to contract by 2% in 2009. Even worse, the Japanese Q4 GDP was seen contracting more than 3%, which would be lowest read in the last few decades.

Tonight, the Nikkei fell 276.19 points (3.35%) to 7,975.05. The Australian S&P/Asx declined 22.50 points (0.64%) to 3,503.70.

Crude oil struggles to hold above the $40 benchmark. Crude oil for February delivery rose $0.30 to $41.70.

Gold rose in the last session, as investors were looking for safety. Bullion for immediate delivery rose $1.50 to $904.60.

Previous Wall Street trade: At the close of floor trading on the NYSE, the DOW was on 8149.01 after falling 226.44 points (-2.7%) while the S&P wiped out Wednesday's gain, finished on 845.14 after declining 28.95 points (-3.31%). The tech-heavy NASDAQ closed on 1507.84 after losing 50.50 points (-3.24%). Bonds were sold even as stocks declined after the Fed indicated in yesterday's statement that it would not yet purchase Treasuries. The yield on the 2-year note rose 13.9 basis points to 0.950% while yield on the benchmark 10-year note gained 20.4 basis points to 2.867%. The dollar traded mixed on the day, gaining 0.14% on the euro and 2.04% against Australia's currency while it fell 0.39% to the yen and 0.34% against the pound.

Previous European trade: In Europe, the U.K. Ftse fell 105.09 points (-1.45%) to 4,033.57, while the German Dax fell 90.61 points (-2.01%) to 4,458.18.