NEW YORK — Traders gave in to another case of last-hour anxiety Monday and drove stocks to their lowest level in seven months. The Dow Jones industrial average, down 42 points at 1:15 p.m. MDT, was down 115, or 1.2 percent, by the close 45 minutes later.
That extended the Dow’s sharp drop from Friday, when it lost 323 in response to a disappointing May jobs report. Broader indexes had steeper percentage drops than the Dow on Monday.
The technology-focused Nasdaq composite index fell 2 percent. Treasury prices rose as investors again went in search of safe investments.
There was no obvious catalyst for Monday’s late slide, although traders were again preoccupied with Europe’s economic problems.
Europe’s business day begins before trading opens in the U.S., and traders would rather sell than wake up to an unpleasant surprise. The last- hour selling, which followed a similar move Friday, recalled the 2008 financial crisis, when traders decided the best strategy was to dump stocks just before the close.
Monday’s trading also showed how the market’s own dynamics can trigger late selling. Shortly after 1 p.m., the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell below 1,056.74, what had been its low close for the year that it reached Feb. 8. That psychological blow encouraged many traders to sell, and as prices came down, computer “sell” programs kicked in, leading to more selling.
Tech stocks, seen as some of the most vulnerable when the economy and the market are troubled, suffered some of the biggest losses. That explains the drop in the Nasdaq.
But some stocks fell on their own bad news. Google was one of the big tech losers, falling 2.7 percent after Connecticut Attorney General Rich ard Blumenthal called on the company to “come clean” on its collection of personal and business data in the state for its mapping service.
The Dow closed at 9,816.49, down 4.3 percent in the past two days, its worst back-to-back slide since early May.
The S&P 500 index fell 14.41, or 1.4 percent, to 1,050.47.
The Nasdaq fell 45.27, or 2 percent, to 2,173.90, its lowest level since Feb. 10.
“The market is playing defense and waiting for some resolution,” said Mike Shea, managing partner at Direct Access Partners in New York, pointing to the rise in gold stocks, which were some of the few gainers.
The government said Friday that private employers hired 41,000 workers in May, down from 218,000 in April and the lowest number since January.
“The market is getting to the point where it’s uninvestable. Fundamentals don’t matter,” said Jim Thorne, chief investment officer at MTB Investment Advisers in Baltimore. “This is a period that will be looked back upon six to eight months from now as a wonderful investing opportunity.”
