Stocks on Wall Street dropped the most in one day so far this year as financial shares pummeted in the wake of a weaker than expected result from JP Morgan Chase.In other markets, European and Canadian sharemarkets also fell, as did oil and gold, wh
Stocks on Wall Street dropped the most in one day so far this year as financial shares pummeted in the wake of a weaker than expected result from JP Morgan Chase.
In other markets, European and Canadian sharemarkets also fell, as did oil and gold, while the US dollar and yen benefited from risk-averse traders.
JP Morgan's fourth-quarter earnings quadrupled, exceeding forecasts, but revenue was below analysts' and the outlook was glum.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which hadn't posted a daily decline of more than 37 points in January before Friday, ended down 100.75 points, or 0.9%, at 10609.80.
The average racked up a triple-digit point loss in the first hour of trading and never quite recovered, hurt by selling across every sector.
Twenty-seven of the Dow's 30 components were lower, with financial companies suffering the worst losses. Bank of America was off 3.3% and JP Morgan fell 2.3% after its announcing its results prior to the opening bell.
The S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 1136.08 with declines in all sectors, led by a 2% pullback in financials. This was the biggest fall in a month and a .08% drop for the week.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2% to 2287.99.
Canadian stocks fell for a second day, completing their biggest weekly drop since October, as commodity prices declined on a stronger US dollar.
Kinross Gold lost 4.8% after saying 2010 production probably will be equal to last year’s. Agrium decreased 4.5% after CF Industries Holdings dropped its takeover bid for Terra Industries, possibly making an Agrium purchase of CF more likely.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slumped 119.01 points, or 1%, to a 2010 low of 11,685.37 and a 2.2% drop for the week.
European markets finished lower on Friday as Greece’s fiscal woes continued to batter shares in Athens. The ASE index down 2.3%, with banks stocks leading the way lower.
Greece's problems also drove the euro lower. It sank nearly 1% against the dollar and more than 1% against the yen.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index lost 0.9% to 256.44, bringing losses for the week to 1%.
The German DAX Index declined 1.9% to 5875.97, the French CAC-40 Index fell 1.5% to 3954.38 and the UK FTSE 100 Index lost 0.8% to 5455.37.
Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude-oil prices fell 1.8% on Friday, weakening for the fifth day in a row.
US government reports during the week unexpectedly showed December retail sales declined and jobless claims rose, while the Labour Department reported a tame inflation rate Friday, suggesting the pace of economic recovery has slowed.
Energy stockpiles also rose, in defiance of expectations that a wave of frigid weather hitting many parts of the world in the past few weeks would cause supplies to dwindle as customers burned more fuel to stay warm.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery settled $US1.39 lower at $US78 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled $US1.46 lower at $US77.11 a barrel.
Gold futures closed lower for the week as risk appetite weakened and the dollar strengthened. On Friday, gold made only its third loss in the past 11 trading days.
Lightly traded but nearby January gold fell $US12.50 to $US1130.10 in New York and the most-active February contract lost $12.50, or 1.09%, to $1,130.50, a weekly drop of 0.3%.
Currencies: Dollar, yen up
The dollar and yen gained strongly against their major rivals Friday as investors spurned riskier assets.
Economic data showing US consumers were still under stress, continuing concern over sovereign debt in the euro zone and a possible further tightening of Chinese fiscal policy all worked together to lead investors to the safe-haven dollar and yen.
The euro ended the week at $US1.4376 from $US1.4499 late on Thursday.
The dollar was at ¥90.82 from ¥91.10, while the euro was at ¥130.54 from ¥132.09.
The UK pound rose against the euro to 88.55p, pushing its weekly gain to 1.5%, the biggest this year.
The pound was 0.6% weaker versus the dollar at $US1.6236 but was 1.3% stronger on the week after a Bank of England official said the easier monetary policy would end.
Canada’s dollar dropped from the highest level in three months versus its US counterpart as oil and gold retreated.
The Canadian dollar depreciated 0.6% to $C1.0295 per US dollar, from $C1.0234 on Thursday and was little changed on the week. One Canadian dollar buys 97.14USc.
