Stocks plunge again on wide selling; Dow down as much as 698
NEW YORK—U.S. stocks are tumbling for the second consecutive day as the market’s recent downturn gets worse. Indexes in Europe and Asia also skidded. The S&P 500 index is on track for its sixth consecutive loss as investors try to gauge the best place to put their money amid concerns over interest rates and trade and signs of slowing global economic growth.
While health care and bank stocks are doing the worst Thursday, the selling is across the board, even hitting stocks considered to be safe havens. Technology companies and retailers, including longtime market favorites Apple, Alphabet and Amazon, continue to slide. Energy companies fell with oil prices, and even safer bets like utilities and real estate companies sank. After months of declines, gold made its biggest jump in two years.
A surge in bond yields came to an end as investors who sought safety bought government bonds. The market’s current decline was set off by a sharp drop in bond prices and a corresponding increase in yields last week and early this week. But the decline in yields didn’t help stocks Thursday.
And there are lingering concerns about the unresolved trade dispute between the U.S. and China. Strong earnings reports in the upcoming weeks could soothe investor nerves, but any negative comments from company executives about future profits could have the opposite effect.
The benchmark S&P 500 index slipped 55 points, or 2 percent, to 2,729 after it fell 3.3 percent Wednesday. It’s down 6.7 percent in its current losing streak, its worst downturn since a 10-percent drop in early February.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 507 points, or 2 percent, to 25,090, after falling as much as 698. The Nasdaq composite slipped 101 points, or 1.4 percent, to 7,320. On Wednesday it suffered its biggest loss in two years. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 22 points, or 1.5 percent, to 1552.
The S&P 500’s current decline is the longest since a nine-day skid shortly before the 2016 presidential election. It has climbed 28 percent since Donald Trump was elected.
On Thursday, President Trump renewed his criticism of the Federal Reserve, blaming the recent downturn in the stock market on the Fed’s rate policy.
Trump said he had no intention of firing Jerome Powell, who he appointed as Fed chairman in February.
Bond prices rose as the recent surge in yields attracted the attention of some investors. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.13 percent from 3.22 percent late Wednesday. That’s still sharply higher than it was about a week ago, and earlier this week the yield on the 10-year note reached its highest level since mid-2011.
U.S. crude dropped 3 percent to $70.97 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 3.4 percent to $80.26 a barrel in London. The price of gold jumped 2.9 percent to $1,227.60 an ounce.
Wholesale gasoline lost 4.3 percent to $1.93 a gallon. Heating oil shed 2.6 percent to $2.33 a gallon. Natural gas fell 1.9 percent to $3.22 per 1,000 cubic feet.