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US markets sink in wake of US rout

16 October 2008 09:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev - APA-Economics. Wall Street stocks dropped on heightened recession fears Wednesday for the US and global economies, as panic selling returned to global markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 733.08 points (7.87 percent) to close at 8,577.91 in the worst one-day point loss since last monthâ€™s record 777-point decline and the steepest percentage drop since 1987.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 150.68 points (8.47 per cent) to 1628.33 and the broad-market Standard & Poorâ€™s index plunged 90.17 points (9.03 percent) to 907.84.
The panic-driven selling flowed into European markets. In London, the FTSE 100 slumped 314.62 (7.16 per cent) to 4079.59 after unemployment hit the highest level in nearly two years in September as recession fears prompted employers to slash staff numbers.
The Paris CAC 40 Index fell 247.45 points (6.82 per cent) to 3381.07 and the German Dax Index gave up 337.56 points (6.49 per cent) to 4861.63.
The downturn follows retail sales statistics from the U.S. Commerce Department showing a decrease last month of 1.2 per cent -- almost double the 0.7 per cent drop that was predicted.
The weakness was led by auto sales, which dropped by 3.8 per cent.
The negative sentiment also sent commodities, crude oil and copper prices into a tailspin amid fears a global recession would reduce demand.