Consequences for the world market

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 410.

September 11 accelerated the global economy's existing downward tendency. Seconds after the attacks, the prices of gold, oil and bonds increased rapidly. The London FTSE, the Paris CAC and the German DAX all took large losses in the first few days. Very few companies saw an increase in their stock prices. These were mainly military and space contractors like Raytheon (37%), L-3 Communications (35.8%), Alliant Techsystems (23.5%) or Northrop Grumman (21.2%). World leaders and central bankers reacted immediately to the attacks. President George W. Bush and members of Congress provided "a $40 billion emergency response package to help deal with the tragic events of September 11". This funding was made "to respond to and recover from the attacks and to protect national security". In Europe among others interest rates were cut by the European Central Bank. Surprisingly, it took only a few months until the world market had regenerated. The U.S. central bank lowered the key interest rate by 50 basis points just before the "New York Stock Exchange" reopened on September 17, 2001. The OPEC raised its oil production and so the oil price receded back to normal just days after September 11. In November 2001 the German DAX noted a plus of 25 percent, German NEMAX even a plus of 60 percent.

The serious immediate economic consequences of the attacks were limited by a carefully considered and well-organized crisis management by business groups and governments.