Stocks end lower as traders worry about global growth

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 131 points, or 0.7 percent, to 17,779 as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern.

Traders were also worrying Monday that last week’s strong jobs report opened the way for the first rate hike from the Federal Reserve in almost a decade. “Bond and stock prices will decline when the Fed makes that first announcement, but ultimately, stocks will thrive because it will prove the United States economy is healthy enough to stand on its own”.

The Nasdaq composite index lost 51.82 points, or 1 per cent, to 5,095.30.

The US Labor Department said the world’s biggest economy created 271,000 net new jobs in October, nearly twice as many as September, while the unemployment rate fell to a seven-and-a-half year low of 5.0 per cent.

The chances of the Federal Reserve hiking USA interest rates shot up after Friday’s employment report, fuelling worries of a flight of capital from Asia to the United States as well as higher borrowing costs strangling investment. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.34 percent. The Nasdaq was down 1.2% to 5,086.68. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was moving lower on Wednesday, down 1.09% to $43.73 a barrel.

Drugmaker Mallinckrodt fell $11.88, or 17 percent, to $58.01 after the short-selling firm Citron Research warned that the company might have issues similar to Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Macy’s plunged after releasing weak results and oil and gas companies fell along with the price of crude.

In metals trading, gold edged up 40 cents to $1,088.10 an ounce, silver dropped 28 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $14.41 an ounce, and copper rose a penny, or 0.5 percent, to $2.23 a pound.