Wall Street rode another wave of selling Monday that sent U.S. stocks sharply lower, before a late-afternoon pullback stemmed some of the losses. Investors unloaded materials, financials and other stocks, briefly knocking the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 400 points.
Technology shares, which soared last year, were targeted for especially aggressive selling, bringing the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index down almost 20 percent from its record high last year.
The losses left major market indexes down for the second day in a row, extending what has been a dismal beginning of 2016 for the stock market, its worst start to a year on record.
European markets also fell sharply, with the worst losses coming in weaker economies such as Greece, Spain and Italy. Traditional safe harbor investments like gold and U.S. government bonds were among the few bright spots in a market awash in red.
The Dow fell 177.92 points, or 1.1 percent, to 16,027.05. The Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 26.61 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,853.44. The Nasdaq composite dropped 79.39 points, or 1.8 percent, to 4,283.75. The index is within 110 points of being in what is considered a bear market, or a 20 percent drop from its high.
For the year, the Dow is now down 8 percent, while the S&P 500 is down 9.3 percent. The Nasdaq has lost 14.5 percent.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell $1.20 to close at $29.69 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, dropped $1.18 to close at $32.88 a barrel in London.
The prolonged slump in oil prices has investors worried that companies that drill for crude may not be able to pay back loans.
Precious metals prices rose sharply as traders took cover from the turbulence in the stock market. Gold jumped $40.20, or 3.5 percent, to $1,197.90 an ounce and silver climbed 64.8 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $15.43 an ounce. Copper, an industrial metal that will often rise and fall along with investor’s optimism about the global economy, slipped 1.3 cents to $2.09 a pound.
