Binary.com

The FTSE finished the week down slightly, but the real loser last week was UK PLC. The pound crashed as various factors come to a head. Up until July, the USD was the currency the world loved to hate,last week it was sterling’s turn to be punished.

Markets finished last week strongly, with many global indices finally break out the range they had been trading in since July. The Dow Jones Industrial average even managed to register two 300 point rallies in one week.

As another volatile trading week draws to a close, it is interesting to note that almost no major stock market made any traction in either direction over the last 5 trading days.

Markets endured another volatile week, with US markets had a better time of it than their European counterparts.

It was a sea of red again last week as stock markets across the world finished down heavily on the week.

The half year report card for global stock markets was not one to be proud of. The first half of 2008 was the worst first half to a year for the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1970, when the index was down 14.60%.

Global figures released by leading online fixed-odds trading platform BetOnMarkets.com indicate that the UK is one of the worst online financial betting nations in the world.

Financial markets were a sea of red numbers last week as the classic ‘Fade the Fed’ trade played out. The initial reaction to Wednesday’s US interest rate decision was neutral to positive, then the selling set in and hardly stopped.

It was yet another tough week for global stock markets, with the Dow Jones & S&P 500 declining 3.78% on the week and the FTSE down 3.37%.

After a rather turbulent week markets ended on a positive note.