Wednesday was a rough one on Wall Street, with the Dow Industrials down by just under 500 points, or nearly 2%, at the close. The S&P 500 was also off by almost 2%.
It was the stock market’s worst one-day performance since Aug. 23.
Combined with Tuesday’s losses, reports MarketWatch, the Dow, the S&P and other benchmark indexes appear headed for “one of the worst starts to a quarter since the 2008-09 financial crisis.”
“Trade tensions likely spilled over to the domestic labor market as U.S. private employers hired fewer-than-expected workers in September,” Reuters says, citing the ADP National Employment Report, “a precursor to the Labor Department’s more comprehensive jobs report due on Friday.”
The ADP report “gave investors more reason to worry that President Donald Trump’s trade wars are taking their toll on the economy,” says CBS News.
“Already considered an unusually volatile period for the stock market, which has logged historically ugly October declines in 1929, 1987 and 2008, worries about geopolitics and growing signs of domestic and international economic weakness has fueled bearish bets and sent stock-market optimists, at least momentarily, scurrying for cover in assets perceived as safe,” MarketWatch says.
