Posted on 03/15/2004 7:27:08 AM PST by Koblenz
The Spanish stock market doesn't like the socialists. The broad index is down 27.4 to 814.97, a drop of 3.25%. Only two of the 105 companies in the index are up today. All the other indices in Europe are down 1.25% or less, except Norway's, which is down 2% (and Norway's market is essentially oil and shipping).
The Iraq war was overwhelmingly unpopular there, and yet, the Socialist party barely won. The bombings caused a late swing (or rather, a later turnout of wimps), which caused the election to go the other way. It was going to be a close election anyways. So think about it, a very large portion of the Spanish public voted against the socialists. This was a kneejerk reaction of the 2-3% of wimps who voted at the last minute. Hardly a mandate against the USA or the WOT...
European stockmarkets took a pounding on Monday on fears of more urban violence after evidence mounted that al-Qaeda was behind last week's deadly bombings in Madrid.
Investors were in particular worried about the impact of the attacks on the tourism sector.
In London the FTSE 100 index fell 1.22 per cent to 4,412.9, while in France the CAC 40 was down 2.40 per cent at 3,573.84. The DAX index in Frankfurt shed 2.67 per cent to end the day at 3,810.76.
Hardest hit was Madrid, where the IBEX-35 index plunged 4.14 per cent to 7,699.1, a decline that also reflected uncertainty following the victory of the Socialist Party in legislative elections.
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From the Financial Review
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