Broad sell- off again sinks indexes

Wall Street rode another wave of selling Monday that sent U. S. stocks sharply lower, before a late- afternoon pullback stemmed some of the losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 177.92 points, or 1.1 percent, to 16,027.05. The Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 26.61 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,853.44. The Nasdaq composite dropped 79.39 points, or 1.8 percent, to 4,283.75. The index is within 110 points of being in what Wall Street considers a bear market, or a 20 percent drop from its high.

Investors unloaded materials, financials and other stocks, briefly knocking the Dow down more than 400 points.

Technology shares, which soared last year, were targeted for especially aggressive selling, bringing the tech- heavy Nasdaq composite index down almost 20 percent from its record high last year.

The losses left major market indexes down for the second day in a row, extending what has been a dismal beginning of 2016 for the stock market, its worst start to a year on record.

European markets also fell sharply, with the worst losses coming in weaker economies such as Greece, Spain, and Italy. Traditional investments such as gold and U. S. government bonds were among the few bright spots in a market awash in red.

“Traders are worried that the financial market weakness that we’re experiencing is going to lead to weakness in the real economy,” said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust.

For the year, the Dow is now down 8 percent, while the S& P 500 is down 9.3 percent. The Nasdaq has lost 14.5 percent this year.

The stock market has been in a slump for much of this year after a lackluster 2015. Several factors have kept investors in a selling mood, including falling crude oil prices, the impact of a stronger dollar on U. S. company earnings, and heightened concern that economic growth is slowing in China and elsewhere.

Fears of a global economic downturn are now heightening concerns that the U. S. economy could slide into a recession later this year.

The market anxiety helped push bond prices higher, pulling down the yield on the 10- year Treasury note to 1.75 percent from 1.84 percent late Friday, a large move.

Benchmark U. S. crude oil fell $ 1.20, or 3.9 percent, to close at $ 29.69 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, dropped $ 1.18, or 3.5 percent, to close at $ 32.88 a barrel in London.

Financials stocks also slumped, falling 2.6 percent.

Goldman Sachs Group was one of the biggest decliners in the Dow, sliding $ 7.22, or 4.6 percent, to $ 149.25. Bank of America shed 68 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $ 12.27.

Credit Suisse Group AG fell 4 percent on news that the bank’s new CEO has asked for his bonus to be cut after a report of a huge fourth- quarter loss and plans for 4,000 job cuts. The stock fell 54 cents to $ 14.44.

Monday’s market slump followed a wave of selling in Europe that was concentrated in the more financially shaky countries. The stock index in Spain was off roughly 4 percent, while Italy’s lost about 5 percent. Greece’s index sank about 8 percent.

The larger stock markets didn’t fare much better.

Germany’s DAX fell 3.3 percent, while France’s CAC 40 dropped 3.2 percent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares slid 2.7 percent.