World sharemarkets and commodities declined for a third day on concern President Barack Obama's plan to rein in banks and a possible interest-rate increase in China will stifle the economic recovery.Oil and gold retreated more than 1%. Leading stocks on W
World sharemarkets and commodities declined for a third day on concern President Barack Obama’s plan to rein in banks and a possible interest-rate increase in China will stifle the economic recovery.
Oil and gold retreated more than 1%. Leading stocks on Wall Street lower were financial shares, which were again burdened with fears of new regulations.
Technology stocks were also down after analyst downgrades and a tepid investor response to the latest earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 216.90 points, or 02.1%, to 10,172.98, a 5.2% drop over three days – the biggest since last March. On the week, the Dow fell 4.1%.
The measure's weakest component was American Express, which fell 7% despite a tripling in its quarterly net income.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.1% to 2205.29, the worst decline of the major indexes.
The S&P 500 plummeted 2.2% to 1091.7, led by declines in both the financial and tech sectors. It was down 3.9% for the week.
European stocks retreated for a third day to a one-month low. Deutsche Bank and UBS slid more than 4% as a gauge of banks sank to a five-month low.
The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index fell for the third day, shedding 1.1% to 249.91, the lowest close since December 21. The measure has retreated 2.6% this week, the biggest drop since October.
National benchmark indexes slid in all of the 18 western European markets, except Athens.
The UK FTSE 100 index lost 0.6% to end at 5302.99, the German DAX settled 0.9% lower at 5695.32 and the French CAC-40 Index declined 1.1% to 3820.78.
Canadian stocks extended a weekly decline with the S&P/TSX Composite Index dropping 125.67 points, or 1.1%, to 11,343.43, the lowest since November 6.
The index, which gained 31% in 2009, was down 2.9% for the week and has fallen 4.3% since January 11.
Royal Bank of Canada dropped 1.4% while Barrick Gold rallied 1.6% after winning government approval for a mine expansion in Australia.
Nexen, which operates in Canada, Europe and Africa, dropped 2.7% as crude oil futures sank to a four-week low.
Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude futures added to the week's already heavy losses, as a gloomier outlook for global oil demand set in.
Sweet crude for March delivery fell $US1.54 or 2% to $US74.54 a barrel in New York, the lowest since December 22, while Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange lost $US1.75 to $US72.83 a barrel.
Gold futures pared their losses but the overall tone for the day was negative.
February gold fell $US13.50, or 1.2%, to settle at $US1,089.70 an ounce in New York.
Currencies: Dollar down; euro, yen up
The US dollar slipped against the euro and yen. The waning allure of growth-sensitive assets is not benefiting the dollar, which would normally gain on a wave of risk aversion.
The euro ended the week at $US1.4143 from $US1.4094 late on Thursday. The dollar was at ¥90.11 from ¥90.41, while the euro was at ¥127.45 from ¥127.27.
The UK pound was at $US1.6124 from $US1.6199.
Canada’s dollar touched the weakest level in a month and has dropped 2.7% since January 15 in the worst weekly performance since the five days ended October 30.
The Bank of Canada reiterated this week its conditional pledge to leave the target lending rate at a record low of 0.25% until the end of June.
The currency depreciated as much as 0.8% to $C1.0603 per US dollar, the weakest level since December 22, before trading at $1.0576, compared with $C1.0524 on Thursday. One Canadian dollar buys 94.55USc.
