One of the big factors weighing on American markets was the smartphone giant Apple, which shed more than $27bn (£17bn) in value on concerns over demand from China, the world’s largest smartphone market.
With a drop of 530 points, the blue chip index was more than 10 percent below its 52-week high (also an all-time intraday high) of 18,351.36.
The declines pushed the S&P 500 below 2,000 Friday, and sent the index within 10 points of its lowpoint for the year.
The S&P slumped 5.8 percent for the week, its biggest weekly percentage decline since September 2011.
Meanwhile on foreign currency markets, the dollar slipped against the euro after the US Federal Reserve earlier this week dampened expectations of a US interest rate rise next month. And the Nasdaq composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) dropped 171 points, or 3.52 percent, to finish at 4,706.04. France’s CAC 40 PX1, -0.50% dropped 0.5% to 4,759.02, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 UKX, -0.58% lost 0.5% to 6,338.03.
Investors across the world were alarmed at the latest Chinese data.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,391 to 671, for a 3.56-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,682 issues fell and 1,119 advanced for a 1.50-to-1 ratio favoring decliners. The Dow Jones industrial average, an index of 30 blue-chip stocks, and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index were down about 1.3 percent and 2 percent respectively in morning trading. For the week, the index is down 3.6 percent.
Analysts say the stock market might go lower, though so far the government’s “national team” has bought stock to defend the key 3,500 point level. The stock was the biggest drag on the S&P and the Nasdaq.
Among the majors, Dow Chemical fell by 2.4%, while DuPont fell by 0.8%.
They got more evidence on Friday: A reading of business activity in China, known as the Caixin purchasing index, fell to 47.1.
Global stocks already were jittery this month after China unexpectedly devalued the yuan August 11.
Was this a bad week for investors, or an indication of more serious things to come?
“There is a relatively more ominous slowdown going on in emerging markets – and that’s what the trade is all about right now”, said Gina Martin Adams, a Wells Fargo Securities equity strategist.
Since June this year, stock exchanges on the mainland have seen extreme volatility, undermining investor confidence and leading to government intervention. Oil’s run of weekly losses is its worst since 1986.
OH, DEERE: Deere & Co. fell $7.10, or 7 percent, to $83.55 after it cut its full-year outlook.
Oil prices continued to tumble, heading for their eighth consecutive week of falls, the longest losing streak in almost three decades, hammering Russia’s rouble, which hit a six month low and was poised for its ninth straight week of losses.
The weakness among energy stocks comes amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil, with crude for October delivery tumbling USD1.20 to USD40.12 a barrel.
