Investors have been jittery as markets got off to their worst four-day start to a year and economists slashed fourth-quarter US growth estimates. The indices did not go out on the lows, but the fall is not pretty.
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The benchmark USA rebounded moderately in Asian daytime hours, rising 67 cents to $33.94 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Stocks had opened higher on Wall Street after data showed the economy created many more jobs than expected in December and previous months were revised higher. The Nasdaq has fallen for six days straight.
On Thursday, Chinese stock trading halted for the day after a key index known as the CSI 300 plunged 7 percent, tripping a “circuit breaker” that is meant to dampen volatility.
“The management of the Chinese economy is the real concern”, said John Canally, chief economic strategist at LPL Financial.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 167.65 points, or 1.02 percent, to 16,346.45.
Today, futures in the Dow Jones are down a whopping 390 points, the S&P500 futures are 47 points below and the tech heavy Nasdaq futures are trading down 137.
Energy stocks continued to decline, as drilling services company Transocean lost 26 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $10.74 and Marathon Oil fell 25 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $10.42.
Nine of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, with the energy index’s .SPNY 1.34 percent loss making it the top decliner. Anadarko Petroleum gave up $2.13, or 4.9 percent, to $41.64 and Ensco lost 74 cents, or 5.5 percent, to $12.76. On Wednesday the price of USA crude closed at its lowest since December 2008. Brent crude, the benchmark for global oils, lost 48 cents, reaching $33.75 a barrel in London.
The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and 72 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 11 new highs and 269 new lows.
CONTAINER STORE STUMBLE: The Container Store reported a surprise third-quarter loss and disappointing sales, and its stock plunged $2.72, or 37.9 percent, to $4.46.
China’s stock market has skidded this year as the government prepares to remove measures that were introduced last year to prop up share prices after a meltdown in June.
The NYSE Composite’s primary exchange traded 1.2 billion shares with total volume of 5 billion. The Nasdaq composite rose 19 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,708.
The rough start to 2016 is being blamed on several factors.
“China’s been such a big driver of global growth for 15 years and now they’re not, and they don’t seem to have a plan for the next 15 years”, Canally said.
Stocks had been higher earlier in the day as market tumult in China eased and data showed robust United States job growth.
Among technology companies, Cisco Systems lost 2.5 per cent and Google parent Alphabet shed 1.6 per cent, but Dow members Apple and Microsoft climbed 0.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.
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The price of copper fell 2 percent, however. Gold is trading around 1.109 up from yesterday’s close at 1093.42.
