AFP, New York :
US stocks sold off to close the week down sharply on Friday, with fears of slowing global growth pushing all three major Wall Street indices down about two percent.
Sparked by weaker-than-expected Chinese economic data, the slump left the indices more than 10 percent below their most recent peaks.
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average fell two percent to close the session 24,100.51, its lowest level since May and down 1.2 percent for the week.
The broader S&P 500 fell 1.9 percent to end at 2,599.95, down 1.3 percent for the week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq sank the furthest, losing 2.3 percent to finish at 6,910.66.
That left the Nasdaq up only a hair’s breadth for the year while the Dow and the S&P 500 had already wiped out their gains for 2018.
Chinese authorities on Friday reported weaker-than-expected retail sales and industrial output, renewing long-standing fears that the global economy is slowing, leaving the current bull market little room to continue.
“The fears around slower growth rate globally have been confirmed by the fact that the Chinese data were weak,” Nate Thooft of Manulife Asset Management told AFP.
But, he said, “I still think the market is reading way too much in it.”
US stocks sold off to close the week down sharply on Friday, with fears of slowing global growth pushing all three major Wall Street indices down about two percent.
Sparked by weaker-than-expected Chinese economic data, the slump left the indices more than 10 percent below their most recent peaks.
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average fell two percent to close the session 24,100.51, its lowest level since May and down 1.2 percent for the week.
The broader S&P 500 fell 1.9 percent to end at 2,599.95, down 1.3 percent for the week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq sank the furthest, losing 2.3 percent to finish at 6,910.66.
That left the Nasdaq up only a hair’s breadth for the year while the Dow and the S&P 500 had already wiped out their gains for 2018.
Chinese authorities on Friday reported weaker-than-expected retail sales and industrial output, renewing long-standing fears that the global economy is slowing, leaving the current bull market little room to continue.
“The fears around slower growth rate globally have been confirmed by the fact that the Chinese data were weak,” Nate Thooft of Manulife Asset Management told AFP.
But, he said, “I still think the market is reading way too much in it.”
