U.S. Stocks, Dollar and Oil Slump on Global Slowdown Worries

Nichole Harper
09 Oct, 2014
New York City

Market indexes dropped as much as 1.8% on Wall Street on the renewed worries of global slowdown and weaker than expected economies in the euro zone. U.S. jobless claims filings declined to 287,000 and the dollar declined and the crude oil fell to a two-year low.

[R]2:10 PM New York – Market indexes dropped as much as 1.8% on Wall Street on the renewed worries of global slowdown and weaker than expected economies in the euro zone. U.S. jobless claims filings declined to 287,000 and the dollar declined and the crude oil fell to a two-year low.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street opened lower and accelerated the decline and reached the low of the day.

The widely watched S&P 500 index dropped as low as 1.84% and European markets struggled on the growing worries that the central bank measures are going to fall short of market expectations.

Also, the latest decline in oil price of 10% from the peak in the year have failed to spark rally in emerging markets after the dollar moved 4% higher against the euro and the yen in September month alone and advanced 8% in the last eight weeks.

Weekly unemployment claims declined 1,000 to 287,000 from the revised figures of the last week, according to the data released by the Labor Department.

In total, 2.38 million people are receiving unemployment checks in that week, down 21,000 from the previous week, the government agency reported today.

Tollbooth Index dropped 1.2% or 114.21 to 9,163.25.

S&P 500 index declined 1.6% or 32.15 to 1,936.78 and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.64% or 73.15 to 4,395.15.

The dollar declined 0.2% to 107.92 yen and gold increased to $1,233.20 an ounce and erased all the gains of the year.

Brent oil declined 1.2% and fell below $90 a barrel and the West Texas Crude Oil futures declined $1.47 to $85.84 a barrel.

U.S. Movers

Alcoa Inc. ((AA)) dropped 1.4% or 22 cents to $15.85 after the aluminium producer reported said net revenue in the third-quarter ending in September advanced 6% to $6.2 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged 521% to $149 million or 12 cents a diluted share compared to $24 million or 2 cents from a same quarter last year.

PepsiCo, Inc. ((PEP)) gained 29 cents to $94.23 after the food and beverage maker reported net revenue in the third-quarter ending in September increased 1.8% to $17.2 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter advanced 5% to $2 billion or $1.32 a diluted share compared to $1.9 billion or $1.23 from a same quarter last year.

European Markets

European markets traded lower for the third day after the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the growth in the euro zone is slowing and the policymakers need to focus on spurring inflation and prevent the economy from falling into deflation spiral.

Separately, private reports in Germany showed that the economy is on the verge of falling into recession.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slipped 0.5% or 30.06 to 6,452.18 and in Frankfurt the DAX index increased 0.3% or 23.45 to 9,018.78.

In Paris, CAC 40 index dropped 0.4% or 18.42 to 4,149.70.

New Britain Palm Oil Limited surged 75.2% to 677 pence after the Papua New Guinea-based oil palm, sugar producer received formal offer from Malaysia-based Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd for about $1.74 billion in cash.

Suedzucker Mannheim Ochsenfurt AG tumbled 12.5% to €10.28 after the Germany-based agricultural raw materials producer reported group revenue in the first-half ending in August declined 12% to €3.48 billion from €3.94 billion a year ago period.

Net income in the period plummeted 61.8% from a year ago period to €119 million compared to €312 million and diluted earnings per share slipped to €0.37 from €1.21.

Asian Markets

Stocks in Tokyo slipped following a pattern of the week and the yen rebounded from its four-year low for the third day.

The Cabinet Office said core machine orders in August climbed 4.7% followed by 3.5% gain in July. On a yearly basis, core machine orders declined 3.3% compare to 1.1% increase in the previous month.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 117.05 or 0.7% to 15,478.93 and the broader Topix index dropped 14.07 or 1.1% to 1,260.78.

The yen gained 0.2% and closed at 107.69 against one dollar.

The Sensex Index climbed 390.49 or 1.5% to close at 26,637.28 The CNX Nifty jumped 117.85 to 7,960.55.