Global markets tumble after bad US figures

Will the United States catch the cold that has hit Europe? World markets reacted negatively on October 15 to new US data showing retail sales dropping 0.3% in September, the first drop in 7 months. Wall Street fell sharply at the open on the retail sales data, but quickly cut the losses. In Europe, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index lost 1.46% to 6,299.24 points in afternoon deals, with Shire Pharmaceutical shares devastated by US giant AbbVie saying it would review its $54 billion takeover bid. “The very bad US figures are just adding to all the bad news we’ve had in Europe over the past few weeks,” said Saxo Banque analyst Andrea Tueni. A slew of weak figures out of China, Japan and the eurozone have fanned worries about the global outlook and sent investors running for the door in recent weeks, despite the US economy showing healthy growth.

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