OREANDA-NEWS. August 19, 2011. US stocks slumped on Thursday with Basic Materials (-5.86%) as laggards and Industrials (-5.76%) as the leaders. S&P 500 index collapsed by 4.46%, Russell 2000 Index – slumped by 5.9%. EURUSD finished the day near 1.43.

Philadelphia Manufacturing Index slumped to -30.7 vs consensus forecast of 2.3. Both New orders and shipments components dropped reflecting dip in the economic activity.

Leading indicators index rose by 0.5% as employment and low rates exerted upward pressure on the index.

Existing home sales were unexpectedly down by 3.5% and the absolute figures reached the November lows.

Asian markets fell on Friday. Hang Seng dropped 2.98%, Nikkei – lost 2.51% with exporters as laggards. S&P/ASX was down by 3.51%. Shanghai stock indices lost on average 1.5%. Kospi collapsed by 6.22%.

The European stock indices futures were lower in the morning - Dow Jones Stoxx 50 futures lost 1.0% while Dax futures declined by 1.31%. S&P futures lost 0.87%.

No significant reports are expected to be released today with Fed’s Dudley speech in focus.