Sharemarket plummets: Economic roundup

The sharemarket went on another downwards spiral this morning before recovering to end slightly up at 1pm. By mid morning the ASX200 index had fallen 2.4% to 6545.1 before recovering slightly to 6576.2 at 1pm. The broader All Ordinaries Index was down 2.42% to 6560.8 at mid morning before edging up to 6593.4 at 1pm.

And the problem again lies in the US, where a recession warning from heavy equipment group Caterpillar and the 20^th anniversary of the Black Monday 1987 sharemarket crash sent investors into a panic causing Wall Street to suffer its biggest loss in more than two months.

Caterpillar, considered to be a bellwether stock, believes the US economy will be near to or even in recession next year after lowering its forecasts for its earnings growth on the fourth quarter.