Stocks on Wall Street have plunged as an unexpected jump in weekly jobless claims spread ripples of concern about the economic recovery.The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped as low as 180 points and late buying surge failed to shift it out of negative
Stocks on Wall Street have plunged as an unexpected jump in weekly jobless claims spread ripples of concern about the economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped as low as 180 points and late buying surge failed to shift it out of negative territory.
The blue chip index ended 53.13 points, or 0.5%, down at 10,321.03 for a 2.5% rise for the month with one day's trading to go.
The Dow's worst performing component was Coca-Cola, which sank 4.6% after agreeing to buy most of its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, in a deal estimated to be worth between $US12 billion and $US13 billion. Shares of the bottler surged 34%.
Industrial machinery stocks slipped as investors fled the cyclical stocks tied closest to the economy's performance. Caterpillar dropped 2.8%, while industrial crane maker Terex, which isn't a Dow component, fell 3%.
The Nasdaq Composite was 0.8% down to 2234.22, while the S&P 500 index slipped 0.2% to 1102.94. Industrial and energy stocks led the tumble, as the price of oil slid below $US78 per barrel, though it later settled above that figure.
Other markets
European stock markets fell as tumbling US stocks amid weak jobless claims compounded negative sentiment around Greece's debt woes.
Basic resources and oil and gas stocks posted the biggest losses as oil and metals prices slipped. ArcelorMittal lost 3.4% and Total shed 2.8%.
Banking stocks posted strong gains after Royal Bank of Scotland Group posted results that were better than analysts had forecast. It reported a narrower full-year net loss and said bad-debt charges might have peaked.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index slid 1.6% to 243.35. London's FTSE 100 Index was 1.4% lower at 5268.82. Frankfurt's DAX was off 1.4% at 5534.71, and the CAC-40 Index in Paris was down 2% at 3641.40.
Asian markets ended mostly lower, with stocks weighed down by concerns that Greek debt may be downgraded; a rising yen added to the pressure on exporters in Tokyo.
Sony slid 2.1%, Honda Motor gave up 1.1% and Nissan Motor shed 1.7%.
Toyota Motor dropped 0.2%, but outperformed the market, after the automaker's president, Akio Toyoda, appeared before US lawmakers, formally apologising for the spate of defects and vowing to rebuild the car maker's tarnished reputation.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1% to 10,101.96, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index 0.5% to 20,399.57, Taiwan's Taiex 1.4% to 7426.96, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 1.2% to 4594.07, South Korea's Kospi 1.6% to 1587.51 and Singapore's Straits Times Index 0.5% to 2749.15.
India's Sensex was flat, while China's Shanghai Composite went its own way, rising 1.3% to 3060.62.
Commodities: Oil down, gold up
Crude futures added to early losses as US jobless claims unexpectedly rose.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery settled $US1.83, or 2.3%, lower at $US78.17 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange shed $US1.94 to $US76.15 a barrel.
Gold futures erased slight losses and moved into positive territory as participants bought back previously sold positions and flight-to-safety buying offset some earlier selling on waning risk tolerance.
Gold for March delivery was up $US1.20, or 0.1%, at $US1097.70 an ounce in New York.
Currencies: Euro down; dollar, yen up
The euro plunged against major currencies, sinking to a 12-month low against the yen.
The euro fell below the key $US1.35 level, in a selloff triggered overnight when Moody's Investors Service reaffirmed Greece's A2 debt rating may be cut if the Greek government doesn't act forcefully to cut its ballooning deficit. It followed a similar warning a day earlier from Standard & Poor's Corp.
Demand for the dollar and yen then surged in the wake of worse-than-expected US weekly jobless-claims data.
The euro hit an intraday low against the yen after the data, falling more than 1.5% to ¥119.68, the lowest level since February 2009.
The euro was at $US1.3475 from $US1.3534 late on Wednesday. The dollar was at ¥88.90 from ¥90.19, while the euro was at ¥119.80 from ¥122.06.
The UK pound was at $US1.5194 from $US1.5398.
