GLOBAL STOCKS TOOK a beating again today as Europe’s debt crisis continues to deepen and the US economic growth remains sluggish.
The US stock markets finished their worst quarter since the financial crisis today with investors off-loading shares across the board.
On the New York Stock Exchange, for every one stock that rose, four fell.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 240 points, or 2.2 per cent, to 10,91.
The S&P 500 fell 29 points to 1,131, while the Nasdaq dropped 65 to 2,415.
In the third quarter of the year – the worst since autumn 2008 – the S&P lost 14 per cent. According to Reuters, the index fell more than 7 per cent in September alone.
On Wall Street, the Wiltshire 5000 index has seen US$2.2 trillion disappear in the three-month period.
Earlier today, European markets also closed down with the FTSE 100 registering its biggest quarterly loss since 2002. The London index fell 13.7 per cent.
Unsurprisingly, banks were the worst performing sector as fears of a Greek default – and the effect that could have on European banks – grow.
Investors were also put off by surging inflation figures in the eurozone which diminished hopes of a European Central Bank interest rate cut.
-Additional reporting by AP
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