U.S. stocks stabilize, but foreign markets take another hit

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Wall Street is handling the lousy August employment report and dismal mortgage foreclosure data relatively well today -- perhaps because investors got a lot out of their system on Thursday, when the Dow Jones industrials dived 344 points.

At about 12:15 p.m. PDT the Dow was up 6 points, or less than 0.1%, to 11,194.181 after falling as low as 11,038 early on. The index held above its summer closing low of 10,962 reached on July 15, which may have helped boost sentiment today once prices turned up.

Markets were hit harder overseas -- continuing the pattern of the last few months -- amid fears that overseas economies may fare worse than the U.S. (believe it or not). A Bloomberg index of 500 European blue-chip stocks slumped 2.2% after sliding 2.5% on Thursday. It’s down 25.5% year to date, compared with a 15.6% decline in the Dow.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 2.7% today after falling 1% on Thursday, and is down 20.2% this year.

And in China, new lows again: The Shanghai composite tumbled 3.3% to 2,202.45, which puts it down 64% from the record high last October. To put that in perspective: If the Dow had fallen that much, it would be at 5,100 now.

With the sell-off in markets overseas, it looks as though money again is coming back to the U.S. -- at least if the dollar’s continuing rally is an indication. The euro has fallen to $1.425 today, down from $1.433 on Thursday. The Australian dollar is at 81.2 U.S. cents, down from 82.3 cents.

So the U.S. started this mess with its housing crash, but our currency is back in favor, and our stocks aren’t suffering nearly as much as most foreign markets this year.

That’s some kind of justice, eh?