By Lalit K Jha, IANS,
New York : With investors showing little sign of confidence in the market, stocks plumbed further this week as major US companies resorted to further job cuts, mulled filing for bankruptcy and posted big quarterly losses.
Wall Street reported another low at the closing of business Friday, a few hours before the world leaders from top 20 economies, including India, sat down in Washington to discuss the current financial meltdown over a dinner at White House.
Dow Jones fell by five percent (to 8497.31 points) this week, NASDAQ dropped by 7.9 percent (to 1516.85 point) and S & P, another major index, skidded by 6.2 percent.
Analysts said this is mainly because investors have started believing that the economy is weak and there are little signs of its recovery.
The last working day of the week began on a dull note as Wall Street Journal reported that Citi Group is getting ready to announce layoffs to thousands of its employees. Adding to it was the report that Freddie Mac has posted a big quarterly loss of $ 25 billion and Sun Microsystems announced 6,000 job cuts.
There was no change in fortunes of Indian companies as well. Shares of Patni Computers dropped by 8.2 percent, Satyam Computers (9.67 percent), Tata Communications (9.65 percent) and Wipro by 13.35 percent as the New York Stock Exchange closed for trading Friday.