European, Asia Stocks Market june 8 2011, Seen Down on Bernanke Remarks Stock Market Today Shares, gold , mortgage rates

European, Asia Stocks Market june 8 2011, Seen Down on Bernanke Remarks : European stocks are seen opening lower Wednesday as downbeat comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the outlook for the world's largest economy prompted a sell-off on Wall Street. Speaking at the American Bankers Association in Atlanta, Bernanke acknowledged that the U.S. economy is growing slower than the Fed had expected.

Bernanke said the economic recovery looks to be "continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a rate that is both uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers."

Those comments dampened any enthusiasm for equities, but, most significantly, Bernanke avoided the issue of further quantitative easing as a means of encouraging growth.

"Following the recent deluge of poor economic data from the U.S., Bernanke acknowledged that the pace of economic growth in the U.S. was slowing, but what really sapped risk appetite from the markets was his silence on a third round of quantitative easing," said Jonathan Sudaria of Capital Spreads.

Sudaria called London's FTSE 100 index down 21 points at 5844, Frankfurt's DAX off 32 points at 7071, and the CAC-40 in Paris to lose 16 points to 3856.

On the data front Wednesday, revised euro-zone gross domestic product numbers are due at 0900 GMT and German industrial production at 1000 GMT. The Fed also publishes its Beige Book at 1800 GMT.

Bernanke's gloomy economic assessment erased an earlier rally in U.S. stocks, sending major indexes in the final minutes of Tuesday's session to their fifth-consecutive drop.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 19.15 points, or 0.2%, at 12,070.81. The blue-chip index has dropped 3.97% during its five-day skid, its longest losing streak since August. The Dow rose as much as 89 points during Tuesday's session before finishing lower.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index dropped 1.23 points, or 0.1%, to 1284.94, led lower by the technology and telecom sectors. The index, which has fallen 4.5% during its five-day losing streak, hit its lowest closing level since March 18.

In Asia, stock markets were mostly lower Wednesday on global growth concerns.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended up just 0.1%, but South Korea's Kospi Composite closed 0.8% lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.5%, while the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.3%.

In foreign exchange markets, the dollar lost ground against the yen, but rose against the euro as investors continued to digest Bernanke's gloomy assessment.

Still, the focus for the single currency will be on growing expectations the European Central Bank will signal higher rates in coming months at its meeting Thursday.

In particular, said Mike Jones, a currency strategist at the Bank of New Zealand, "investors will be looking for signals from ECB head Jean-Claude Trichet about the possibility of a July rate hike."

At 0615 GMT, the euro was at $1.4686 against the greenback, from $1.4690 late Tuesday in New York, and at Y117.48, from Y117.65. The dollar bought Y79.97, from Y80.10.

Additionally, the September bund contract was up 0.16 at 124.64, spot gold was at $1,542.70 per troy ounce, off $1.15 cents from its New York settlement Tuesday, while the July Nymex crude oil futures contract was down 39 cents at $98.70 per barrel. For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today

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