US Stocks Sell-off Accelerates On Economic Fears

New York, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Dec, 2018 ) :US stocks dove further into the red on Friday afternoon as a sell-off sparked by fears over global growth gathered pace due to lackluster Chinese economic data.

Shares of US drug maker Johnson & Johnson also dropped sharply following a report the company knowingly sold talc-based powder containing the carcinogen asbestos.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had sunk more than 500 points, or two percent, to 24,069.13, shortly before 2000 GMT.

The broader S&P 500 and tech-rich Nasdaq each dropped 1.8 percent to 2,598.33 and 6,921.24, respectively.

All three major indices are now down more than 10 percent from their most recent peaks. The Dow and S&P have wiped out their gains for the year, with the Nasdaq verging on doing the same.

Chinese authorities on Friday reported weaker-than-expected retail sales and industrial output, renewing long-standing fears that the global economy is slowing, leaving the current bull market little room to continue.

"The fears around slower growth rate globally have been confirmed by the fact that the Chinese data were weak," Nate Thooft of Manulife Asset Management told AFP.

"I still think the market is reading way too much in it," he said.

Johnson & Johnson forcefully denied Friday's report from Reuters -- which drew from thousands of pages of documents from the company dating back decades -- but its stock was down 10 percent, weighing on the Dow.