Wall Street tumbles on earnings, financial sector jitters
NEW YORK - US stocks tumbled on Friday as investors worried about earnings, the faltering financial sector and the government's ability to mount an adequate response to the recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average skidded 151.81 points (1.87 per cent) to 7,970.99 in opening trades.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 20.99 points (1.43 per cent) to 1,444.50 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index retreated 14.82 points (1.79 per cent) to 812.68.
On Thursday, US stocks slid after rallying on Wednesday, with dismal government reports on rising unemployment and housing construction, as well as poor corporate earnings results weighing on sentiment.
The Dow shed 1.28 percent, the Nasdaq 2.76 per cent and the S&P 500 1.52 per cent.
'The major indices managed to finish off their lows, but that was really beside the point,' said Mr Patrick O'Hare, analyst at Briefing.com.
'The inability to stretch the positive bias beyond a single session reflects the understandably skeptical manner in which equity market participants are operating.' -- AFP
