Posted on 01/22/2008 6:11:08 AM PST by Brilliant
European shares jumped into positive territory in early afternoon on Tuesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve surprised markets by slashing its benchmark interest rates by a hefty 75 basis point to 3.5 percent.
By 1327 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 1.4 percent at 1,298.12 points, after hitting an intraday low at 1,223.36 points, which was its lowest since Nov. 2005.
"If you know the Fed you could have expected that it would try everything to calm down the situation," said Christian Schmidt, strategist at German regional bank Helaba.
Rumours about a rate cut had lifted European indexes earlier, but the Fed had declined to comment on the rumours.
"The structural problems have not gone away though," Schmidt added. "It is too early to give the all clear."
Maybe it is because the other countries have their own problems to deal with.
Yeah, I caught hell from the wife because I forgot to clean my shoes before walking across our new carpet,
--but seriously, more and more I keep finding that the "they" everyone talks about (you know they say that-- a new thing they're coming out with-- one of these days they're going to--) ends up being either me or someone I work with.
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