Asian stocks slid from a seven?month high, led by banks and mining companies, as HSBC Holdings Plc said 2009 will be a “tough” year and metal prices fell. London? based HSBC said charges for impaired loans rose in all customer groups and regions during the first quarter.

China’s export slump worsened in April, making it harder for the government to revive the world’s third?biggest economy. Overseas sales declined 22.6 percent to $91.94 billion from a year earlier, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Imports fell 23 percent. April’s export decline compared with March’s 17.1 percent slump. The median forecast of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News wasfor a 15.3 percent drop.

China’s urban fixed?asset investment climbed 30.5 percent in the first four months from a year earlier as the government pumped money into building railways, oil pipelines and low?cost housing. The gain compared with a 28.6 percent increase in the first three months and the 29.1 percent median estimate of 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

U.S. stocks dropped from a four?month high after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index traded at the most expensive level in seven months Capital One Financial Corp., U.S. Bancorp and BB&T Corp. tumbled at least 7.5 percent on plans to sell shares to repay government bailout funds. American Express Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. slid at least 8 percent following a 23 percent surge in a measure of financial stocks last week. General Motors Corp. dropped 11 percent after saying bankruptcy is more probable than previously thought.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said he’s encouraged by U.S. banks’ plans to raise capital after government stress tests and indicated firms need to conduct further internal exams to identify other risks.

The Fed will help keep the U.S. dollar strong by containing inflation, and will withdraw credit from the financial system in a “timely” way, Bernanke said. He reiterated that he’s “certain” the dollar will be the main reserve currency for the “foreseeable future.”

The swine flu strain that has sickened people in 30 countries rivals the severity of the 1957 “Asian flu” pandemic that killed 2 million people, scientists said. Swine flu has been confirmed in 4,694 people, according to the WHO, the health agency of the United Nations. Sixtyone people have died, including 56 in Mexico, three in the U.S., and one each in Canada and Costa Rica, health officials said. The U.S. confirmed 2,618 cases in 44 states

Indian stock markets are expected to open positive. Though intraday may go down but will recover at the end.