The Dow fell to its lowest level of the year, and the S&P 500 went negative for 2015.
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The Dow Jones industrial average was down 217 points, or 1.3 percent, at 17,186 as of 11:14 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite index fell 79 points, or 1.6 percent, to 5,020.
China’s central bank devalued that country’s yuan another one percent today after yesterday’s almost two-percent devaluation that sent shock waves through the global economy.
The US dollar will continue to climb on all of the above.
Russia’s government has predicted that the economy would have hit the bottom in the second quarter, when it contracted by 4.6 percent year-on-year.
China’s government said the devaluation of the yuan was part of reforms aimed at making its exchange rate more responsive to the market.
ASIAN SCORECARD: China’s move battered Asian markets for a second day running.
THE QUOTE: “The Chinese government will do whatever is necessary to keep the Chinese economy on course”, said John Manley, chief equity strategist at Wells Fargo Fund Management.
Investors are anxious that more devaluations from China could hurt profits.
Executives at the automaker said last month they see China’s auto sales growing over the next decade to about 35 million vehicles a year, compared to about 20 million annually now.
THE ABC: Google was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500 after the tech giant announced a new corporate structure that included separating its lucrative Internet business from some of its more speculative research projects. In the past few months, dwindling growth has put heavy pressure on state-owned banks to lend money readily to companies willing to invest in new factories and equipment. Its stock lost $2.57, or 3.9 percent, to $64.97.
Oil prices fell by 60 percent between last June and January, hitting as low as Dollars 45 a barrel, partly because of a supply glut resulting from the boom in US shale oil production. Brands and Tiffany all dropped 5 percent. The dollar was last down 0.92 percent against the Japanese yen at 124 yen.
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The euro was up 1.25 percent against the dollar at $1.11810. U.S. government bond prices rose, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note down to 2.13 percent from 2.23 percent on Monday. Both the Nikkei stock market index in Japan and Hang Seng in Hong Kong were down more than 1%. France’s CAC-40 fell 1.9 percent, and Germany’s DAX lost 2.7 percent.
