Dow falls, Asian stocks follow

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost 2.01% yesterday, the biggest drop in recent months as investors worried about US President Barrack Obama's proposed tough restrictions on banks. Stock markets in the region followed the trend this morning with Nikkei already lost 2.4%, while Australia's All Ordinaries slashed 1.82%. Footsie closed lower by 1.6% yesterday.

DJIA surged 64% in the period of March 2009 to last week. "I guess, it's a delayed correction," one fund manager commented. JPMorgan led the correction with 6.6%, while Bank of America lost 6.2% and Citigroup -5.5%. JPMorgan has lost 15% from its peak in October 2009, but the stock surged 256% in March-Oct 2009.

Energy stocks were also under pressure with Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips declined 2.44%, 1.96%, and 1.55% respectively. Coal stocks also slashed, with Arch Coal, Peabody, and Consol dropped almost 6%. BHP Billiton followed with 2.65% drop in Sidney this morning. Rio Tinto declined 3.2% this morning after Thursday's 3% drop.

South Korea's KOSPI composite index declined 1.16% this morning. Singapore's Straits and Hang Seng (HK) might follow suit. Straits opened lower by 1.53%, Shanghai -1.46%. How about IDX? Well, IDX composite index opened lower by 1.5% to below 2600.

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