A wild ride on Wall Street
The Dow fell more than 540 points but regained most of that ground.
A turbulent day on Wall Street ended Tuesday with stocks climbing nearly all the way out of a steep, broad sell-off that at one point erased more than 500 points from the Dow Jones industrial average.
Even with the rebound, stocks extended the market’s recent string of declines, giving the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index its fifth consecutive loss. Bond prices rose, sending yields lower, as investors sought safer investments.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index sank 3.1%. European markets also closed sharply lower.
The latest selling came as investors grew unsettled over slowing economic growth in China and increased signs that President Trump’s aggressive trade policies are weighing on corporate earnings.
Focus is on “not the current-quarter results, but the commentary going forward, the impact of tariffs and what that means in terms of costs,” said Willie Delwiche, an investment strategist at Baird. “If tariffs didn’t come up in earnings calls and commentary, then maybe you could say we were moving away from that, but the opposite is happening.”
The S&P 500 fell 15.19 points, or 0.6%, to 2,740.69. The Dow ended the day down 125.98 points, or 0.5%, at 25,191.43; in the morning, it fell more than 540 points. The Nasdaq slid 31.09 points, or 0.4%, to 7,437.54.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 12.91 points, or 0.8%, to 1,526.59. The index is now down for the year.
Meanwhile, the strong U.S. economy has helped power earnings growth for companies in the S&P 500. Those companies are expected to deliver 21.9% earnings growth for the third quarter, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, but investors are concerned about future growth amid rising inflation and interest rates, as well as uncertainty over trade.
Caterpillar skidded 7.6% to $118.98 after the heavyequipment manufacturer warned that Trump’s taxes on imported steel were driving up production costs.
3M fell 4.4% to $192.55 after its earnings missed Wall Street’s targets. The industrial manufacturer said it expects prices of raw materials to continue climbing and tariffs to have a roughly $100million negative effect on its sourcing costs next year.
Declines by banks, energy companies and tech firms outweighed gains by internet and consumer-goods stocks. A sharp sell-off in Chinese and other global markets set the stage for the volatile day on Wall Street.
Bond prices rose, sending the yield on the 10-year Treasury note down to 3.17% from 3.19%.
Communications stocks were among the biggest gainers. Verizon Communications rose 4.1% to $57.21.
McDonald’s climbed 6.3% to $177.15 after the fastfood chain reported thirdquarter results that beat analysts’ forecasts.
U.S. crude fell 4.2% to $66.43 a barrel. Brent crude, used to price international oils, dropped 4.2% to $76.44 a barrel. Heating oil slid 3% to $2.25 a gallon. Wholesale gasoline fell 3.7% to $1.84 a gallon. Natural gas rose 2.4% to $3.21 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Gold rose 1% to $1,236.80 an ounce. Silver rose 1.4% to $14.79 an ounce. Copper fell 1% to $2.76 a pound.