Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Inflation fears crush stocks
Associated PressNEW YORK -- Stocks staged a sharp decline today as fresh inflation news sparked a wave of "sell" cries on Wall Street, with banks, industrial and technology companies bearing the brunt of the bad news.
The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 289.15 points, or by 2.6 percent, to 10,738.87, led lower by General Electric Co., General Motors Corp. and J.P. Morgan. It was the seventh biggest point decline ever.
That selling spree brought the week's loss to 512.84 points and left the Dow at its lowest level since Nov. 11.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 38.40 to 1,360.16, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 152.49 to 3,887.07.
Decliners outnumbered advancers by more than 2-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2,032 down, 991 up and 491 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 1.080 billion shares vs. 1.115 billion yesterday.
The NYSE composite index fell 14.95 to 611.81, the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 14.56 to 868.24 and the Russell 2000 fell 12.40 to 504.62.
Thirty-year benchmark bonds, which initially dropped more than a point after the reports, surged 31/32, or $9.69 per $1,000 face amount to 96 27/32, helped by speculation a U.S. hedge fund was selling some currencies, including the Australian dollar and the yen.
Bonds rose along with the dollar, driving 30-year yields down 8 basis points to 6.44 percent, below yields on two-year notes for the first time since April 1990.
For the week, bonds yields fell 27 basis points, the biggest weekly decline since October 1998.
The Nasdaq composite index suffered its second-biggest point drop ever and biggest weekly loss since August 1998.
On a year-to-date basis, the Dow has fallen 6.6 percent, the S&P 500 is off 7.42 percent and the Nasdaq, up 86 percent last year, has dropped 4.48 percent.