US stocks declined sharply on Thursday as several major financial institutions suffered losses in the subprime mortgage sector meltdown, sending investors fleeing from risky assets such as equities in favour of safer government bonds.
Stocks added to their declines after the Wall Street Journal reported a second Goldman Sachs Group Inc hedge fund was suffering losses and was selling its positions. Trading was extremely volatile, with stocks coming off their lows of the session shortly after the market opened following the New York Stock Exchange's imposition of trading curbs.
The Nasdaq briefly turned positive, but was firmly back in negative territory by mid-afternoon. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 192.74 points, or 1.41 percent, at 13,465.12. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 25.81 points, or 1.72 percent, at 1,471.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 32.82 points, or 1.26 percent, at 2,580.16.
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