Stocks on Wall Street stumbled in the final stages after flucturating between small gains and losses on the last trading day of the second quarter.Investors were encouraged by a better-than-expected report of Chicago-area manufacturing activity and reduce
Stocks on Wall Street stumbled in the final stages after flucturating between small gains and losses on the last trading day of the second quarter.
Investors were encouraged by a better-than-expected report of Chicago-area manufacturing activity and reduced concerns over European banks.
But this disappated as a private-sector jobs report showed an increase of only 13,000 in June compared with expectations of 60,000.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 96.28 points, or 1%, lower at 9774.02, a drop of 10% opver the quarter.
The Nasdaq Composite was down 1.2% at 2109.24, a 12% drop for the quarter, while the S&P 500 index lost 1% to 1030.71, a new low for the year and a 11.9% drop for the quarter.
Other markets: Europe up, Asia down
Most European stock markets eked out small gains after a bumpy session, as a lower-than-expected participation rate in the European Central Bank's three-month tender eased fears over the health of the region's banking sector.
Gains were limited, however, with basic-resource stocks posting big falls. ArcelorMittal fell 1.9% and Kazakhmys slipped 3.7%.
Banking stocks received a boost as the ECB allotted €131.9 billion in funds at its three-month tender, much less expectations ranging between €200 billion and €300 billion.
Banco Santander added 3.5% in Madrid, Crédit Agricole rose 3.4% and BNP Paribas rose 1.9% in Paris and Deutsche Bank shares traded up 1.9% in Frankfurt.
While the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed down 0.2% at 243.32, the major markets were all up.
The UK's FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% to 4916.87, France's CAC-40 index was up 0.3% to 3442.89 and Germany's DAX added 0.2% to 5965.52.
Asian stocks fell, dominated by worries about a Chinese economic slowdown and the impact of the yen's recent strength prompting a further selloff in Japanese banks and exporters.
Hong Kong shares were lower in cautious trading ahead of a public holiday today.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 2% to 9382.64, after earlier hitting its lowest level since December 1. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 1% to 4301.51 and Korea's Kospi lost 0.6% to 1698.29.
China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.2% to 2398.37, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.6% to 20128.99 and Taiwan's Taiex fell 1.3% to 7329.37.
Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude-oil futures shed early modest gains and are trading weaker after a US government report showed inventories of key petroleum products were higher than expected and demand dropped to a two-month low.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery traded 17USc lower at $US75.77 a barrel in New York. August North Sea Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange fell 10USc to $US75.34 a barrel.
Gold futures edged lower, as lower-than-expected demand for European Central Bank funding took away some of the safe-haven impetus.
Gold for August delivery slipped $US2.40, or 0.2%, to $US1240 an ounce in New York.
Currencies: Euro up, pound down
The euro gained across the board on lower-than-expected demand for the ECB’s lending programme.
The UK pound dropped against the dollar and the euro as UK consumer confidence fell in June for the fourth consecutive month.
The euro was at $US1.2286 from $US1.2197 late on Tuesday. The dollar was at ¥88.54 from ¥88.56, while the euro was at ¥108.77 from ¥108.01.
The UK pound was at $US1.4943 from $US1.5075 and the dollar was at 1.0773 Swiss francs from 1.0808 late on Tuesday.
