Dow drops 443, closes below 9,000, on economic fears
NEW YORK — Wall Street plunged in spite of a second day, by the Dow industrials closing below the 9,000 level, as low economic and corporate given conditions are triggering unrefined fears about the economy.
The pullback today brings the greater market indexes’ two-day declines to about 10 percent. The losses have erased more than moiety of the emporium’s late advance. Comments from computer dress. maker Cisco Systems portent of slumping demand and retailers reporting erring sales for October have been the latest triggers for selling.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 443.48, or 4.9 percent, to 8,695.79, still above its Oct. 10 trading low of 7,882.51.
Broader stock indicators also posted sharp losses. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 47.89, or 5 percent, to 904.88, and the Nasdaq composite table of contents fell 72.94, or 4.3 percent, to 1,608.70.
Comments from Cisco that it saw a steep drop in orders in October and reports from retailers that consumers are skipping trips to the mall provided fresh prove of the economy’sitting struggles. While sales at Wal-Mart benefited from bargain-seekers, some specialty retailers posted huge drops in monthly sales.
Adding to investors’ list of worries, the Labor Department said the number of folks continuing to draw unemployment benefits jumped to a 25-year high, increasing by 122,000 to 3.84 million in late October. It marked the highest level since late February 1983, when the economy was being buffeted by a protracted recession.
While repaired claims as antidote to unemployment benefits dipped by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 481,000 last week, the levels remain elevated. The findings added to the market’s unease in front of Friday’s October employment report, a widely watched barometer of the economy’s health.
“I muse everybody description of simultaneously — the consumers and businesses — is tightening belts so that’s triggering a reasonably sudden slowdown that’s widespread,” said Ed Hyland, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank. “This is something that we haven’t really seen, this level of this speedy and significant pullback both in the market and the economy.”
Today’s rout follows a drop of more than 5 percent in the market Wednesday that maxim the Dow thrust one’sitting self almost 500 points as investors fretted that weak readings on employment and sad profit forecasts and job cuts from financial companies to steelmakers signaled broad economic troubles.
Still, the market’s two-day slide follows any very large run-up since last week in the same manner some pullback was expected, analysts said. Through the six sessions that ended Tuesday, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index, surged 18.3 percent.
Richard Campagna, chief investment officer at Provident Investment Counsel in Pasadena, Calif., contends the market’sitting pullback isn’t surprising given the enormity of the recent run-up. He said the weak economic readings shouldn’cheek by jowl come taken in the character of a take aback given a freeze in put faith in markets that has disrupted lending and other economic activity since September.
Campagna declared the light volume and overall fear among investors is exacerbating the emporium’s volatility.
“Some people are pushing this market around more than they should be out of fear,” he said. Many everyday investors are sitting upon the sidelines, he said. “Everyone has been shellshocked with the moves in the market.”
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 5 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.05 billion shares.
The dollar traded mixed against most other major currencies, space of time gold prices bring to the ground.
Light, sweet crude fell $4.36 to $60.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as fears of a slowing direction led to predictions demand will die away.
The latest round of economic worries largely overshadowed interest rate cuts by central banks in Europe similar to funds there tumbled back the moves. The Bank of England slashed its key interest rate by a brave 1.5 percentage points today; the Swiss Central Bank cut its own lock opener rate by a surprising half-point; and the European Central Bank lowered its key rate by means of a half-point.
Britain’s FTSE 100 lay low 5.7 percent, Germany’s DAX index cut down 6.8 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 6.4 percent. In Asian trading, Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 6.5 percent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 7.1 percent.
Cisco’sitting comments added to investors’ tremor and weighed on the technology-heavy Nasdaq. The creation’s largest manufacturer of computer networking gear before-mentioned orders declined vehemently the last time month, suggesting to the market that the weak economy and tight credit markets are taking a larger-than-expected toll on numerous companies around the creation. At the close, Cisco was down 2.6 percent.
A range of industries have been bruised by the economy. Japanese automaker Toyota reduced its annual earnings anticipate today to less than a third of what it was in the preceding financial year. Toyota shares tumbled 16.3 percent.
Hyland said the latest economic news is a reminder that while the market strength be off its Oct. 10 lows following an array of government moves to revive lending and shore up confidence in the markets, the medicine for the markets will take some time to work.
“I think that we’re in a bottoming process, bound the market will trend to have three, four, or five bottoms as it goes end the bear market,” he related.
Even the election, which had been one area of uncertainty, now presents a new set of questions, he aforesaid, even though the market largely had expected an Obama win.
“How does some Obama administration deal with it and what are the implications?”
Hyland said he doesn’t attribute plenteous of the selling to hedge funds as many of them have largely already cashed out of some investments to meet shareholder redemptions. Nov. 15 is the cutoff for shareholders to notify fund managers of their design to cash out investments before year-end. But he said a sudden influx of “sell” office of the christian ministry could always spook hedge funds into dumping more investments.
Bank-to-bank lending rates fell for the 19th perpendicular day, a sign that banks are becoming more willing to lend. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, for three-month dollar loans dipped to 2.39 percent from 2.51 percent.
The three-month Treasury bill, considered the ultimate safe asset, saw its accord dip further to 0.32 percent from 0.42 percent late Wednesday. In general, a reduce yield means higher demand, but it is also affected by the federal funds charge.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note inhuman to 3.70 percent from 3.73 percent late Wednesday.
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