Wall Street takes a nosedive

AMERICAN shares slid to the lowest levels seen since the immediate aftermath of last September's terrorist attacks on the US when Wall Street opened today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average crashed another 123.44 points, or 1.28%, resulting in a two-day fall of more than 3% on the world's leading stock market indicator.

New York's hi-tech market Nasdaq fell even more, tumbling 52.7 points or nearly 4% after a warning from Craig Barrett, chief executive of Intel, the world's biggest microchip-maker, that second-quarter sales would be lower than expected.

The index was further battered when biotechnology giant Biogen warned that its second-quarter and full-year earnings would both be worse than the market had anticipated.

Government data from Washington showing unemployment had fallen for the first time since February was given the same harsh treatment. Dealers said the data actually revealed a lack of creation of new jobs in a good economic climate.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development also said its leading indicators showed improved economic prospects for Europe and Japan for the sixth month in a row but warned that the US had shown a dip for the first time in as many months.

Earlier, figures from Japan showed the country has finally crawled out of recession, posting its strongest growth for two years. A burst of consumer spending and fast-rebounding exports in response to the global economic recovery gave the world's second-biggest economy a desperately-needed leg-up in the first quarter of the year. But experts warned that the upswing could fizzle out because of lack of investment by cash-strapped businesses.

Japan's gross domestic product, a measure of overall economic activity, rose by 1.4% in January to March, beating market expectations and marking the first expansion for a year.

Year-on-year, GDP was 5.7% higher - the fastest pace of growth since the first quarter of 2000 and outstripping US growth of 5.6% for the same period.

Recovering demand in overseas markets, especially Asia and the US, contributed 0.7% of growth as exports surged 33% from the previous quarter.

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