from our cheezy ABC …..

Bush briefed on US stockmarket fall

United States treasury secretary Henry Paulson has briefed President George W Bush about the overnight fall on the Wall Street stockmarket.

A White House spokesman would not reveal details of the conversation.

But he did say that Mr Bush's economic advisers are keeping an eye on the markets and they believe the economic fundamentals of the US economy are sound.

The Dow Jones industrial index lost 415 points, or about 3.2 per cent, after steep falls on other international markets.

US markets began losing ground from the opening bell, and the decline accelerated during the day.

At one stage the Dow Jones industrial average had plunged by more than 500 points, or more than 4 per cent, before recovering some of the lost ground.

Markets were spooked by the 9 per cent slide on the Chinese stockmarket.

Investors are worried both the Chinese and US economies are slowing and that shares have become overpriced.

Former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan recently warned the US could be heading for a recession.

At 10:00am AEDT on the Australian share market the All Ordinaries was 59
points down on last night's close - a drop of almost 1 per cent.