STEVE INSKEEP, host: NPR's business news starts with the aftermath of the trouble in Dubai.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Global financial markets are still focused on Dubai and the Persian Gulf. That city state made investors very nervous last week after reports that two major companies in Dubai might not be able to pay their debts on time. They're both involved in Dubai's gigantic real estate development of recent years.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Stocks around the world plunged on fears that this could trigger another global financial crisis, which so far has not happened. Asian markets were up slightly today. American stock indexes are mostly flat. Yesterday, central bankers in the Gulf region took measures to provide emergency credit to financial firms. But still in Dubai, the stock index fell more than 7 percent.
Dubai's main stock exchange slid more than 7 percent on the first day of trading since news of its debt crisis. Dubai officials last Wednesday announced that Dubai World, the emirate's investment and development engine, would seek a six-month delay in paying nearly $60 billion in debt.