Financial Watch

World stock markets fell Thursday as mounting concerns about Greece’s debt crisis eroded investor confidence following a bright finish on Wall Street the day before.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 43.95 points, or 0.8 percent, at 5,679.48 while Germany’s DAX fell 53.15 points, or 0.9 percent, to 6,177.23. The CAC-40 in France fell 40.82 points, or 1 percent, to 3,936.85.

Wall Street was poised to open lower too — Dow futures fell 30 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,029 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures fell 4.4 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,196.

Trade finance banks are stepping up pressure on the G20 to ease regulation of the credits that keep global commerce flowing, after a new survey showed credit tightness is still hampering the flow of trade.

The survey, conducted by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), shows that the supply of trade finance remains constrained both in value and volume, and that banks have cut credit lines even though almost all of them say losses in trade finance are less than in banking generally.

President Barack Obama said Thursday that the United States was doomed to repeat its economic crisis if his financial reform bid failed, warning a free market was not a license for unfettered corporate greed.

The president, in advance excerpts of a speech he was due to give later in New York, the epicenter of US high finance, sent a tough message to Wall Street financial barons, American voters and Republicans who oppose his plans.

He recalled how he had visited the historic college at Cooper Union, where he will speak on Thursday, during his 2008 election campaign to warn of the dangers of corporate excess.

Housing construction posted a better-than-expected performance in March, rising to the highest level in 16 months. Strength in the U.S. South offset declines in the rest of the country, according to government figures.

President Barack Obama’s plan to tax financial institutions to recoup funds spent during the government’s bailout of financial firms received tepid enthusiasm from the top tax writer in the U.S. Senate.

Senator Max Baucus, the conservative-leaning Democrat who heads the Senate Finance Committee said on Tuesday he will hold a series of hearings to examine the plan.

But he also said good news on the government’s recouping of its bailout investments may cast doubt on the need for the funds Obama wants to raise.

“We need to learn whether banks will pass it on to consumers, and how it might affect lending to small businesses,” Baucus said.

U.S. Bancorp said Tuesday its first-quarter profit rose nearly 55 percent from a year ago, helped by higher revenue from its fee-based businesses and slowing consumer loan losses.

The bank also benefited from growth in traditional deposits, giving it a cheap source of money for loans.

But the Minneapolis bank still wrote off more bad loans during the quarter, and expects those write-offs to remain at a similar level this quarter as well, because of economic conditions.

Net loan charge-offs were $1.14 billion, up 2.3 percent from the fourth quarter 2009.