Fresh turbulence hit financial markets on Tuesday as warning signs mounted for the US housing market and US consumer confidence recorded a big fall. Fed minutes issued earlier in the day showed that policymakers before the most recent turmoil put aside concerns about the cost of credit because they were not convinced a slowdown in inflation would last. The S&P500 suffered its worst day for three weeks, falling by about 2.3 per cent while investors fled to the safety of treasuries. The dollar fell Y1.5 against the yen to Y114.3, near the year’s low. The Vix index, a key measure of market volatility, rose 9.5 per cent to 24.83. In Asia on Wednesday, key stock markets dropped for the first time in three days on the consumer confidence data, reports Bloomberg.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 5:45 and is filed under Capital markets. Edit this entry.