S&P 500 has its worst week in 2 years
By KELVIN CHAN, AP Business Writer | |
Associated Press |
Investors found little reason to move money into stocks, faced with the growing geopolitical concerns in
For the last two years investors have generally wanted to step in to buy any major fall in the stock market, traders said, causing any sell-off to be met the following day with modest buying. Traders said that the selling Friday, on top of what happened the day before, is not a good sign.
"The follow-through from yesterday's (market drop) is very telling," said
On Friday the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 5.52 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,925.15. The index fell 2.7 percent this week, its worst weekly performance since
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 69.93 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,493.37. That's on top of the 317-point drop the index had on Thursday. The Nasdaq composite fell 17.13 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,352.64.
Energy and financial stocks were among the biggest decliners. Chevron, the nation's second-largest oil and gas company behind
Banking stocks also fell.
On Friday, the
In
The concerns over the Argentinian default and as well as with European banks were the biggest driver of Friday's market decline, said
"The market doesn't like anything that could potentially disrupt the credit markets," Golub said, noting that indicators of market volatility jumped on Friday.
Adding to the uncertainty, investors had the violence in
As global stock prices declined, traders moved money into investments traditionally seen as having lower risk Friday, such as U.S. government bonds, gold and utility stocks.
Investors did get some good news about the U.S. economy.
"In a nutshell, it's a good report," said
The good news on the economy also means the Federal Reserve isn't going to be there to hold investors' hands for much longer. The central bank said Wednesday it would cut back its bond-buying program again, and investors now believe the Fed is looking to raise interest rates starting next year.
The Fed's stimulus efforts, combined with the growing U.S. economy, have helped pushed the stock market higher. The last time U.S. stocks had a correction, meaning a decline of 10 percent or more in a benchmark index like the S&P 500, is nearly three years ago. They typically happen every 18 months.
Proctor & Gamble was among the day's winners. The stock rose
In other trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.49 percent and the price of gold rose
The price of oil fell to the lowest level since
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