Markets in Asia fell sharply. The Nikkei was down 1.7% to 17,372.

Canon (CAJ) was off 2.7%. Hitachi (HIT) was down 1.7% to 910. Honda (HMC) was flat at 4100. NEC (NIPNY) was off 2.6% to 624. NTT (NTT) was off 1.1% to 607000. Docomo (DCM) was of 1% to 206000. Softbank was off 1.7% to 2585. Sony (SNE) was off 2.3% to 6410. Toyota (TM) was off .5% to 7290. Yahoo Japan was off 1.5% to 39200.

The Hang Seng fell 2.5% to 20,248. China Life (LFC) was down 2.8% to 24.2. China Mobile (CHL) was 3.6% to 72.9. HSBC (HBC) was down .6% to 143.2. PCCW (PCW) was off 1.2 to 4.82.

The Shanghai Composite fell 4.5% to 3449.

Data from Reuters.

Douglas A. McIntyre