NEW YORK — Fears over unrest in Egypt sent U.S. stocks reeling Friday to their biggest one-day decline in months and put an end to the market’s eight-week win streak, as investors sought safety while oil prices surged.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 166.13 points, or 1.4 percent, to 11,823.70, marking its largest one-day drop since Nov. 16. The slump pushed the Dow’s week-to-date performance into the red, erasing a weekly gain it had coming into Friday’s session. The Dow fell 0.4 percent on the week, its first weekly drop in nine weeks.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 declined 23.20 points, or 1.8 percent, to 1,276.34, its biggest one-day drop since Aug. 11, 2010. It fell 0.5 percent on the week.
The Nasdaq composite tumbled 68.39, or 2.5 percent, to 2,686.89, its biggest one-day drop since Aug. 11, 2010. It slipped 0.1 percent on the week. Nasdaq OMX Group restored the measure following dissemination issues earlier in the session.
The declines came as Egypt’s ruling regime faced its biggest challenge Friday, the fourth consecutive day of street protests. President Hosni Mubarak declared a curfew in riot-wracked Egyptian cities, and army tanks began to enter streets to beat back protesters that took to the streets en masse, as the Egyptian leader essentially defied the U.S.’s recent urging to embrace reform. Crude-oil prices surged.
“That’s the most immediate concern, what’s happening in Egypt and how that might affect oil prices if the Suez Canal gets closed, which is a real possibility,” said Ed Cowart, lead manager of Eagle Asset Management’s Large Cap Value and All Cap Value and Equity Income Strategies.
He noted if the canal is closed, it could add substantially to the travel time for oil to get from the Middle East to the West.
Shares of tankers and shippers climbed as investors bet on a shutdown of the Suez Canal.
Investors were flocking to the safety of the U.S. dollar and Treasurys.
