Wall St. drops in late selloff
The S&P 500 dropped more than 1 percent and posted its worst three-day slide since November 2011 on Monday following worries that global economic weakness will dampen U.S. earnings, along with concern about the spread of Ebola.
After trading nearly even for much of the session, stocks fell sharply late in the day and the S&P 500 closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since Nov. 16, 2012. The CBOE Volatility index .VIX ended at 24.64, its highest close since June 2012.
Investors reacted to Ebola scare, of potential impact on U.S. earnings from tepid global demand, plunging oil prices and a breakdown of technical support levels.
The day’s worst-performing sector was S&P energy .SPNY, which lost 2.9 percent. It is down 7.6 percent for the last three sessions, its worst three-day slide since September 2011. Shares of ConocoPhillips (COP.N) slid 3.3 percent to $68.07.
The Dow Jones transportation average .DJT dropped 2.2 percent and is now down 11.1 percent from its record close on Sept. 18, which puts it in correction territory.
Five of the 10 S&P 500 sector indexes – industrials, energy, telecommunications, consumer discretionary and materials – ended in negative territory for the year.
The day’s drop followed the S&P and Nasdaq’s worst weekly percentage declines since May 2012 in concerns the market is in for further weakness and more jolts.
The largest percentage gainer on the S&P 500 was CSX Corp (CSX.N), up 5.9 percent, while the largest percentage decliner was QEP Resources (QEP.N), down 9.2 percent.
Source: Reuters- Wall St. drops in late selloff
