Stocks are falling sharply Thursday, making the prior day’s strong performance seem like an aberration, as Wall Street stumbles toward what could be its worst December since the Great Depression.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 600 points in afternoon trading Thursday. If that holds it would be the Dow’s fifth loss of 500 or more points out of 18 trading days in December.
Technology companies and health care stocks, big gainers on Wednesday when the market had its best day in 10 years, took some of the heaviest losses in Thursday’s broad slide. Energy companies as well as internet and social media companies fell sharply as well. As of 2:15 p.m., only five stocks in the S&P 500 were higher.
Volatility has been the norm this month. The market remains on track for its worst December since 1931, during the depths of the Depression, and could finish 2018 with its biggest losses in a decade. Even with Wednesday’s big gains, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are all down more than 12 percent for the month.
“You’re watching the market wrestle with, ‘Ok, are we within a couple percent off the bottom, or does the community think there’s another 20 percent lower?’” said Billy Huzar, client investment strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
The S&P 500 index fell 69 points, or 2.8 percent, to 2,398 as of 2:15 p.m. Eastern Time. The Dow slid 585 points, or 2.6 percent, to 22,292. Both indexes rose about 5 percent Wednesday, when the Dow had its biggest-ever single-day point gain.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 214 points, or 3.3 percent, to 6,340. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 36 points, or 2.8 percent, 1,293.
The partial government shutdown that began over the weekend has weighed on the market. Investors have also been unnerved by the personnel turmoil inside the Trump administration, trade tensions with China, the slowing global economy and worries that corporate profits are going to slip sooner or later.
Technology companies, a big driver of the market’s gains before the October downturn, slumped Thursday. Advanced Micro Devices lost 7.5 percent to $16.55.
Perrigo gave up 6.6 percent to $38, one of the big decliners in the health care sector.
Retailers, which rallied Wednesday on data showing holiday retail sales growth hit a six-year high, helped pull the market lower Thursday. Amazon slid 5.2 percent to $1,395.
Bank stocks fell along with Treasury yields, which affect interest rates on mortgages and other loans. KeyCorp declined 3.9 percent to $14.13 as the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.73 percent from 2.79 percent late Wednesday.
The decline in oil prices weighed on energy stocks. Noble Energy slid 5.1 percent to $18.10.
Benchmark U.S. crude dropped 2.6 percent to $45.04 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, was down 2.6 percent to $53.34 a barrel in London.
The dollar fell to 110.53 yen from 111.36 yen on Wednesday. The euro strengthened to $1.1444 from $1.1351.
Gold edged up 0.6 percent to $1,281.10 an ounce and silver gained 1.2 percent to $15.31 an ounce. Copper fell 1.2 percent to $2.67 a pound.
The slide in U.S. markets followed a sell-off in major indexes in Europe.
In European markets, where trading resumed after a Christmas holiday break, the German DAX slid 2.4 percent, while France’s CAC 40 gave up 0.6 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 1.5 percent.
In Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 index rebounded 3.9 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi was little changed. The Hang Seng index fell 0.7 percent and Australia’s S&P-ASX 200 jumped 1.9 percent. Stocks climbed in Taiwan and throughout Southeast Asia.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. (Photo: AP)
