Subprime Lending Crash Continues to Hound World Stock Indices

Spread betting and contracts for differences on the stock market should consider that weeks of volatility could be ahead. European stock indices are falling as concerns about U.S. spending come to the fore. The subprime lending crash is feared to have weakened the U.S. economy, affecting exporters from around the world. Bloomberg offers this information on European stock indices:

``There are fears of a U.S. recession and concerns that U.S. consumers will stop spending,'' said James Buckley, a London- based director at Baring Asset Management, which oversees about $37 billion. ``Corporate earnings growth is pretty good. In the near term that is not enough to support the market given the pretty negative sentiment out there.''