Stocks Close Sharply Lower As Oil Prices Plunge And China Worries

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Associated Press
U.S. stocks tumbled to two-month lows Wednesday as fears about China's economy slowing down led to more widespread selling. The price of oil plunged to its lowest level since 2008 on the prospect that global demand could fall further.

For the second time in three days, markets slumped on concerns that the second-largest economy in the world is stumbling. A monthly survey of China's service industries slipped to a 17-month low. That helped knock the price of oil lower, since China is a major consumer of energy.


Global markets were also rattled after North Korea said it had conducted its first successful test of a hydrogen bomb. Experts in South Korea and the U.S. doubted that the country had made that breakthrough, but the announcement still caused alarm.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 252.15 points, or 1.5%, to 16,906.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 26.45 points, or 1.3%, to 1,990.26, for its fourth loss in five days. The Nasdaq composite gave up 55.67 points, or 1.1%, to 4,835.76.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-financial-markets-20160106-story.html