WORLD> America
US stocks plunge anew as data points to recession
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-16 09:30

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, October 15, 2008. US stocks tumbled on Wednesday as bleak economic data fed worries that all the efforts to unlock credit markets may not stave off a severe recession. [Agencies]

Wednesday's losses came as investors were hoping the market would recover from last week's terrible run, which erased about US$2.4 trillion in shareholder wealth and brought the Dow to its lowest level since April 2003. The tumble occurred amid a seize-up in lending stemming from a lack of trust among institutions in response to the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the failure of Washington Mutual Inc., which had been the nation's largest thrift.

The credit markets have been showing tentative signs of recovery, though they remain strained. The three-month Treasury bill on Wednesday was yielding 0.20 percent, down from 0.30 percent on Tuesday. Overall, yields remain low, showing that demand is so high that investors are willing to earn meager returns as long as their principal is preserved.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.98 percent from 4.03 percent late Tuesday.

About 350 stocks advanced at the New York Stock Exchange, while about 2,800 declined. Consolidated volume came to 6.4 billion shares, down from 7.97 billion traded Tuesday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 52.54, or 9.47 percent, to 502.11.

Light, sweet crude fell US$4.09 to settle at US$74.54 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In Asian trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost nearly 5 percent after rising more than 13 percent the previous two days. Markets in Australia, South Korea, Chinese mainland, India and Singapore also sank. Japan's Nikkei 225 index, however, ended up 1.1 percent after soaring 14 percent in the previous session.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 7.08 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 6.49 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 6.82 percent.