Dow plunges over 1,000 points, sinks into correction

New York Feb 9 (IANS) US stocks have plunged more than 1 000 points for the second time this week and the stock market was now in a correction -- 10 per cent off its record high just two weeks ago the media reported.

The Dow finished with a decline of 1 033 points or 4.15 per cent to 23 860.46 on Thursday the second-worst point drop in history eclipsed only by Monday s historic 1 175-point nosedive reports CNN .

The S&P 500 dropped 100.66 points or 3.75 percent to 2 581.00. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 274.82 points or 3.90 perc ent to 6 777.16.

Analysts said the rising bonds yields dented investor sentiment. The country s 10-year yield nearly surpassed a four-year high of 2.885 per cent in the morning trading on Thursday a level that helped trigger a global sell-off in equity markets on Monday reports Xinhua news agency.

On the economic front in the week ending on February 3 the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 221 000 a decrease of 9 000 from the previous week s unrevised level of 230 000 the US Labour Department said on Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 224 500 a decrease of 10 000 from the previous week s unrevised average of 234 500. This is the lowest level for this average since March 10 1973 when it was 222 000.

--IANS
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