Wide-spread capitulation hit global equity markets on Thursday as growing anxiety over the global economic outlook spurred a flight to safe-haven bonds and sent stocks crashing to fresh lows for the year. Investors fled Wall Street in the worst stock-market selloff since the depths of the Great Recession in early 2009 in what has turned into a full-fledged correction.
The S&P 500 had its worst one-day percentage drop since February 10, 2009. The index''s 10.7 percent drop over the past 10 days was the worst 10-day loss since March 2009 when the market bottomed out after year-long fall. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 512.76 points, or 4.31 percent, at 11,383.68, according to the latest available figures. The Standard & Poor''s 500 Index was down 60.27 points, or 4.78 percent, at 1,200.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 136.68 points, or 5.08 percent, at 2,556.39.
European stocks tumbled to a level not seen since after the financial crisis in mid-2009, with Italy''s equity market firmly in bear market territory - down nearly 30 percent since February - as investors worried the eurozone debt crisis was spreading.
Italy''s blue chip FTSE MIB indexes suspended about 30 minutes before the close. The index tumbled slightly more than 5 percent. Intense selling this week reflects a frustration with politicians to address pressing concerns over high public debt levels in Europe and the United States as large industrial economies show signs of running aground.
"People are throwing in the towel because they can''t find relief on any front," said Milton Ezrati, market strategist at Lord AbbettCo in Jersey City, New Jersey, which manages $110 billion in assets. With investors seemingly caught in a perfect storm, officials around the world moved to calm markets. The boldest step came from Tokyo, where the government spent an estimated 1 trillion yen ($13 billion) to stem the strength of its currency.
The yen-selling pushed the dollar roughly 4 percent higher to 80.25 yen on trading platform EBS, well off a low of 76.29 set on Monday. The dollar traded on Thursday afternoon at 78.83 yen, up 2.3 percent on the day, while the euro gained 1 percent to 111.43 yen.
The Japanese intervention came a day after an unexpected cut in interest rates by Switzerland to weaken the franc, which has spiked in recent days as investors seek safe havens. The currency edged slightly higher in New York trade on Thursday. Even gold, which has raced to a series of highs near $1,700 an ounce amid the gathering uncertainty, fell as deepening losses on Wall Street prompted investors to sell the metal and cover losses to meet margin calls outside of the commodity sector.
The exodus from stocks pushed the broad Standard & Poor''s 500 Index down as much as 3.7 percent, while the clamour for safe-haven investments drove the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note below 2.5 percent, the lowest since early November 2010. Less than an hour before the close, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 379.71 points, or 3.19 percent, at 11,516.73. The Standard & Poor''s 500 Index was down 43.84 points, or 3.48 percent, at 1,216.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 97.98 points, or 3.64 percent, at 2,595.09. The MSCI world equity index was down 3.7 percent for the day, its largest daily fall in a year, and hit a fresh 2011 low.
European stocks lost 3.3 percent. Safe-haven assets like the Swiss franc, the yen and gold have spiked this week as investors fret that governments around the world are planning spending cuts at a time of slowing global economic growth. The latest spate of economic data points to slowing demand in the United States, while the eurozone grapples with the spread of its debt crisis to Spain and Italy, where borrowing costs have increased sharply. The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday, but traders said the central bank has been buying bonds of peripheral eurozone countries in an effort to keep rates lower.
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