US stocks tumble as oil falls to 7-year lows

Newmont Mining, which fell 7.7 per cent to $17.61, led declines on the materials index, which fell 1.9 per cent. The S&P energy index fell 2.5 per cent.

A so-called quadruple witching hour, when index futures, stock futures, index options and stock options all expire at the same time, has added to the risk-averse mind-set.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.4% in early trade after rising 1.2% in the previous session.

At 13:03 p.m. ET (1603 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 282.1 points, or 1.61 percent, at 17,213.74, the S&P 500 was down 27.15 points, or 1.33 percent, at 2,014.74 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 61.89 points, or 1.24 percent, at 4,940.67.

Bank of America (BAC.N) was down 3.1 percent, while Wells Fargo (WFC.N) was down 3 percent and JPMorgan (JPM.N) was off 2.8 percent.

The Nikkei share average ended 1.6 percent higher at 19,353.56, the highest closing level since December 8.

Meanwhile, oil prices were mixed in volatile trading, with Brent crude up 0.16% to $37.45 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate fell 1.2% to $35.09 per barrel at 1505 GMT. Oil futures were little changed Friday, after swinging between gains and losses.

With the Fed now out of the way until next year – and the impact of the rate increase still largely unknown in other corners of global markets – markets will go back to focusing on business fundamentals like holiday retail sales, job growth, oil prices and other data points that provide insight into the profit potential of USA companies.

Economic data pointed to continued healing in the labour market, which could prompt more rate increases from the Fed next year.

“It’s a confluence of all the factors: oil prices continuing to run down, the Chinese trying to counteract the dollar and everyone is digesting, globally, what the Fed’s announcement means for emerging markets and everything else”, said J.J. Feldman, portfolio manager at Miracle Mile Advisors in Los Angeles.

US Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that policies would remain accommodative and the significance of the first hike should not be overblown. Disappointing quarterly results from CarMax sent its shares tumbling.

The dollar, which had hit a more than two-week high of 123.590 yen, fell 1.01 percent to 121.31. For the month overall, the group is still down more than 10 per cent. The gauge dropped to -5.9 from 1.9 last month, marking the third negative reading in the past four months and weaker than analysts’ expectations for a reading of 1.