Another bloodbath on US markets as Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are all hit by banking losses
US markets were down again in morning trading in New York, as global turmoil refused to let up.
The S&P 500 was down one per cent in mid-morning trading, at 1,831.2 points, while the Dow Jones was down 1.3 per cent, at 15,712 points. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, erased some of its gains, starting the day at 3,910.7 points – then rising to 3,935.7 points – 0.77 per cent down.
As in Europe, banks were the big casualties, with JP Morgan falling 3.3 per cent, Goldman Sachs falling 2.7 per cent, Bank of America falling 4.5 per cent and Citigroup falling 4.4 per cent.
"Initially threatening a 300 point plunge when the bell rang on Wall Street the Dow Jones settled into a more solid, if still troublesome, 175 point drop as the open receded into the background," said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.
"The Dow was probably saved (and this is all relative, remember) by the fact that the blood loss endured by the US banking sector was nowhere near as gory as the scenes over in Europe, Bank of America the worst hit at around a four per cent decline."
Indeed: in the UK, Barclays fell 4.5 per cent, while Standard Life dropped 3.9 per cent and HSBC was down 3.7 per cent. Germany's Kommerzbank fell more than five per cent, while Deutsche Bank dropped 6.5 per cent – and in France, Societe Generale was down 11.8 per cent.