Wordout

Gloomy figures from Japan and South Korea sparked a massive sell off on Asian markets Friday, as regional leaders agreed to set up an 80-billion-dollar fund to fight the global economic crisis.

The agreement, reached as more than 40 Asian and European countries gathered in Beijing for talks on the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, came as officials in Washington warned of a sharp rise in US unemployment.

The deal between South Korea, China, Japan and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is the first major coordinated regional action since the financial turmoil erupted last month.

A spokesman for South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said the 13 leaders had pledged to work more closely on economic matters.

“(They) agreed on the need to strengthen regional cooperation and policy coordination in the face of the global financial crisis,” the spokesman said.

Despite the announcement, Asian stock markets took another hammering, as fears grew that the financial crisis was taking a heavy toll on corporate earnings in the region.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index plunged 9.6 percent, hitting its lowest level since May 2003. The Kospi in South Korea plummeted 10.6 percent, falling 1,000 points and heading for a total decline this year of more than 50 percent.

The Straits Times index in Singapore hit a four-year low, down 4.8 percent. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 5.2 percent and Taiwan closed down 3.9 percent.

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Friday for the week, with fears of a worldwide recession socking equities around the globe, adding to evidence that the mortgage-related credit crisis has morphed into a crisis of nightmarish proportions.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 312.30 points, or 3.6%, to 8, 378.95, leaving the blue-chip index 5.3% lower for the week.

The Dow had fallen more than 500 points to a low of 8,187.48.

Still, the blue-chip average remained off an intraday low of 7,773 hit in panic selling on Oct. 10.

All of the blue-chip index’s 30 components posted declines, with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) losing gains to end 1.6% lower following its report of a small profit gain for the September quarter. .

The Dow’s decline, while steep under normal circumstances, proved far less severe than some had feared after stock futures plummeted to their daily limits in preopen trades.

So-called circuit-breakers would have kicked in, had the Dow industrials fallen 1,100 points before 2 p.m. Eastern time, freezing trading for an hour. A 2,200-point plunge before 1 p.m. would have stopped trading for two hours, and a 3,350-point drop would have shuttered trades for the rest of the day.

The S&P 500 Index (SPX) dropped 31.34 points, or 3.5%, to 876.77, a level that leaves it 6.8% below last Friday’s close.

Telecommunication services, energy and industrials fronted sector declines that stretched to include all 10 of the S&P’s industry groups, with information technology the best-performing sector among them.

A second-term lawmaker from Watauga County, N.C., Foxx has made a practice of referring to Democrats as the “anti-American energy” party because many of them oppose expanding oil and gas drilling off the nation’s coasts and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

But Foxx went even further last month, according to a transcript of House floor proceedings on Sept. 17.

“We had a great opportunity to pass a bill yesterday that would have created more American energy, but my colleagues on the other side don’t seem to be in favor of more American energy. They seem to be anti-American energy, just as many other things that they support seem to be anti-American power and anti-American control,” Foxx said.

Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota asked the presiding officer whether the language was appropriate.

“The last speaker just referred to the Democrats, including myself, as anti-American,” McCollum said. “Is that a custom and usage of this House to refer to one another in such a manner?”

The presiding officer declined to offer an opinion, and McCollum chose not to have Foxx’s words “taken down” and read to the House for a decision on whether to reprimand Foxx.

McCollum said there was no doubt in her mind that Foxx was calling her and other Democrats anti-American.

“The whole incident in my opinion was inappropriate. It’s childish to do name-calling,” McCollum said on Wednesday. “This isn’t just about me. This is also about the people who vote for me … When you start saying a senator, a member of Congress is anti-American, that’s a reflection on the people in the district who sent them there.”