Wall Street is hit by record shares plunge

SHARES in the United States suffered their biggest one- day points fall ever last night as panic tore through Wall Street in the final hours of trading.

In a brutal blow to savers with money tied up in the stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,500 points in what was dubbed a ‘flash crash’.

More than 750 points were lost in just eight minutes shortly before the markets closed as nervous investors dumped shares in some of America’s biggest companies.

It is thought the slump was aggravated by computerised trading, with robots programmed to monitor share price moves triggering a barrage of selling. The Dow eventually closed down 1,175.21 points or 4.6 per cent at 24,345.75 – setting the scene for a tumultuous day of trading in London when markets reopen this morning.

The Wall Street slump was the biggest one-day points fall of all time – eclipsing the sell-offs seen during the financial crisis of 2008 when the global banking system teetered on the brink of collapse.

It has, however, suffered much bigger falls in percentage terms, plunging more than 22 per cent on Black Monday in October 1987. Damien Fahy, a London-based investment expert said: ‘The US stock market currently resembles a rollercoaster.’ Google owner Alphabet and fellow tech giants Apple and Microsoft were among the biggest losers.

The FTSE 100 fell 108.45 points or 1.5 per cent to 7334.98 in London yesterday. The blue chip index of leading UK-listed companies has now lost 5.9 per cent of its value since hitting an all-time high of 7792.56 on January 12 – costing savers £117.6billion.

The sell-off on both sides of the Atlantic sparked fears that markets are heading for a punishing correction following two years of healthy gains. ‘You had a market that was ripe for something to undermine its tranquillity,’ said Mark Luschini, of Philadelphiabased investment house Janney Capital.

A White House spokesman last night admitted: ‘We’re always concerned when the market loses any value, but we’re also confident in the economy’s fundamentals’.

Concerns over rising inflation and higher interest rates have rattled investors in recent days – particularly in the US.

An upbeat jobs report in the US on Friday – which showed wages rising at their fastest for nearly nine years – fuelled speculation interest rates will rise four times this year.

The biggest points fall on the Dow before last night was the 777 lost in one session in September 2008.