Wall Street tumbled back into sell-off mode, with the Dow plunging more than 1,000 points as worries over interest rate hikes continued to drag the market down.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 4.2 per cent to 23,860.46 yesterday.
The broad-based S&P 500 sank 3.8 per cent to 2,581.00, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index plunged 3.9 per cent to 6,777.16.
With yesterday's losses, the Dow and S&P 500 have now fallen more than 10 per cent from their peaks, meeting the official definition of a "correction" in financial parlance and marking an about-face from the bullishness of early 2018.
"The sellers remain in clear control right now as a lot of the excess froth we saw in January, has now been unwound or erased," said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.
White House spokesman Raj Shah expressed concern about the drop in stocks, but continued to point to robust employment data and corporate earnings as signs that "long term fundamentals demonstrate a healthy economy."
After a muted open, major indices were in the red most of the day, suffering a major bout of weakness in late morning and another round of selling late in the afternoon.
Few big companies emerged unscathed, with Dow giants Boeing and Caterpillar losing around five percent, around the same range as tech titans Amazon and Facebook. Several Dow members lost more than five percent, including American Express and Home Depot.
Analysts cited higher Treasury bond yields as the catalyst for the drop, coupled with the view that the market surged to unsustainably high levels in December and January in the euphoria over US tax reform.
"The market had gotten way ahead of itself," said Nancy Tengler, chief investment officer of Heartland Financial.
"When we were going up faster than we should, nobody questioned that," she said. "When the market recalibrates, everyone becomes somewhat nervous and concerned."
The pullback came amid another spurt higher in Treasury bond yields, a focal point for investors concerned that the Fed may accelerate rate hikes if inflation rises suddenly.
US markets have been under pressure all week, with the Dow notching its biggest loss ever in terms of points on Monday, rallying on Tuesday and finishing modestly lower Wednesday.
(PTI)
US jobs and other economic data were brought out on 2 February , 2018 saying that 200000 ( two lac ) jobs were added in US economy for January 2018 while wages growth took biggest jump since 2009 and unemployment held steady at 4.1%. The hourly earnings rose at 2.9%. Further , the jobs report for the US covering private sector in January 2018 disclose stronger- than – expected 234000 addition. Furthermore , The US services sector has reportedly boomed in January , 2018 registering the best performance since 2005 and delivering more evidence of American economic strength. These details in public and private sectors for US in January 2018 read with similar details for some months past suggest that US economic growth is impressive. Closely and accurately related to these details is this Vedic astrology writer’s prediction of 11 October , 2017 in article - “ Astrological probable alerts for the United States in 2018” - published in monthly Webzine of Wisdom Magazine at wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/4647/ on 1 December , 2017 , which reads as follows : -
“January to about mid-March in 2018. While some issues of strategic importance or warfare may continue to be of substantial concern , CERTAIN RESULT-ORIENTED ECONOMIC MEASURES MAY BRING SOME KIND OF HAPPY NEWS WHATSOEVER MODERATE. GENERAL PICTURE IN THE COUNTRY COULD BE SOMEWHAT ENCOURAGING. TRADING OR PARTNERSHIP ISSUES COULD ALSO BE WITHIN SUCCESSFUL REACH, MAY BE SOMEWHAT SHORT OF FULLNESS. MUCH DEPENDS UPON QUANTUM AND QUALITY OF CORRECT EFFORTS TO TAP IMPACTS OF A KEY PLANET MOVING IN RIGHT DIRECTION FOR US.” It may thus be known that the predictive alert of 11 October , 2017 has matched perfectly and eloquently well in the jobs and other economic data report for January , 2018.