Stocks on Wall Street plunged to three-month lows as sovereign debt woes in Europe and a rise in weekly US jobless claims rattled investor confidence.The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 270 points, or 2.6%, closing at 10,002.18. Just before the close
Stocks on Wall Street plunged to three-month lows as sovereign debt woes in Europe and a rise in weekly US jobless claims rattled investor confidence.
The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 270 points, or 2.6%, closing at 10,002.18. Just before the close, the index fell below the 10,000 before recovering a few points.
The last time it fell below 10,000 was in early November. The S&P 500 index sank 3.1% to 1063.11. Both indexes closed at their lowest points since November 4.
The Nasdaq composite plunged 3% to 2125.43, its lowest point since November 6.
Bank of America fell 3.3% as the banking giant agreed to pay $US150 million and strengthen its corporate governance and disclosure practice to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges.
Among other Dow stocks, Alcoa dropped 3.5% as metals futures fell on concerns about demand and pressure from a stronger dollar.
Cisco was the only component in the black, up 1.6% after the big maker of networking gear reported a 23% profit rise and said current quarter sales may grow as much as 26%.
Other markets
European stock markets slipped as investors continued to worry about the state of the euro zone countries Greece, Portugal and Spain, which have large deficits.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index was down 0.4% at 248.39.
London's FTSE 100 was 0.5% lower at 5228.42. Frankfurt's DAX was down 0.3% at 5654.23 and Paris's CAC-40 was down 0.4% at 3778.02.
Material stocks fueled strong gains in several Asian markets.
BHP Billiton rose 2.6% and Newcrest Mining added 2.3% in Sydney, Japan Petroleum Exploration gained 1.6% in Tokyo, Jiangxi Copper surged 6% in Shanghai and rose 2.8% in Hong Kong.
China's Shanghai Composite gained 2.4% to 3003.83, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.2% to 20722.08, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average of 225 companies climbed 0.3% to 10404.33 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9% to 4647.9.
Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude-oil futures dropped on the increase in US jobless claims.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery recently traded $US1.07, or 1.4%, lower at $US75.91 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange fell $US1.17 to $US74.75 a barrel.
Gold futures fell more than $US40 to their lowest level in three months as investors move out of riskier assets.
April gold, the most active contract, was down $US35.10, or 3.2%, at $US1076.90 an ounce in New York. The contract dipped as far as $US1065.20, its lowest point since November 3.
Currencies: Euro down
The euro tumbled to seven-month lows below $US1.38 as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was unable to allay festering concerns over Greek sovereign debt.
The ECB announced its key rates would remain unchanged, sending the euro to $US1.3783 from $US1.3899 late on Wednesday.
The US dollar was at ¥90.53 from ¥90.98, while the euro was at ¥124.68 from ¥126.45.
The UK pound was at $US1.5764 from $US1.5898.
