Commodity price drops lead Wall St down

Stocks on Wall Street fell for a third day, pressured by disappointing economic data, weaker commodity prices and lacklustre earnings reports.

The Institute for Supply Management's index of non-manufacturing activity for April came in below expectations while a private-sector jobs survey fell short of economists' forecast.

At the close (8am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 83.93 points, or 0.7%, to 12,723.58. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.5% to 28218.23 and the S&P 500 index lost 0.2% to 1347.32.

Other markets: Europe, Asia down
European stock markets dropped sharply with alternative energy, mining and oil leading the losses. The Stoxx Europe 600 index slumped 1.4% to end at 278.52.

In France, the CAC 40 index dropped 1.3% to 4043.13, the German DAX 30 index lost 1.7% to end at 7373.93 and in London, the FTSE 100 index dropped 1.6% to 5984.07.

Asian stocks declined as investors feared that Beijing might act soon to check inflation.

China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 2.3% to 2866.02, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gave up 1.4% to 23315.24, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.9% to 4740.1, Korea's Kospi shed 0.9% to 2180.64 and India's Sensex fell 0.4% to 18469.36.

Japanese markets remained shut for public holidays. They, will reopen tomorrow.

Commodities: Oil, gold fall
Oil futures extended their losses after a report showed US crude inventories rose more than expected last week, confirming doubts that demand is keeping up with supply.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery settled $US1.81, or 1.6%, to $US109.24 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange sank $US1.26, or 1.0%, at $US121.19 a barrel.

Gold fell despite early support from a weaker dollar, which resumed its decline versus the euro. The gold contract for May delivery settled $US25.20, or 1.6%, down at $US1514.90 an ounce.

Silver continued its slide for a third day as more traders sold the metal to avoid recently increased trading costs.

Silver for May delivery was down $US3.193, or 7.5%, at $US39.383 an ounce. The contract is down 19% from a 31-year-high settlement set on April 29.

Currencies: US dollar continues fall
Much weaker-than-expected US non-manufacturing data gave investors yet another reason to push the dollar down. It is at new all-time lows versus the Swiss franc, and t

The euro has threatened the $US1.50 mark for the first time since November 2009.

The euro was at $US1.4846 compared with $US1.4833 late on Tuesday. The dollar was at ¥80.50 from ¥80.95.

The dollar traded at 0.8597 franc, after falling to 0.8571 franc, compared with 0.8616 franc late on Tuesday. The UK pound bought $US1.6518 from $US1.6474.