US Stock Futures Down as Asian Markets Tumble

The S&P 500 slid 77.68 points, or 3.9 percent, to 1,893.21. Investors access the group via the Powershares DWA Momentum Portfolio, an exchange-traded fund that saw assets balloon to more than US$2 billion in August.

Monday marked the second straight trading day in which the Dow fell by more than 500 points.

The Dow’s tumble marked its largest one-day point decline ever on an intraday basis, as intensifying growth fears sparked steep stock-market losses world-wide.

The U.S. stock market took investors on a stomach-churning ride Monday, as the Dow Jones industrial average briefly plunged more than 1,000 points and sent a shiver of fear from Wall Street to Main Street.

Energy stocks recorded the biggest decline of the day, 5.2 percent, amid a continued slump in the price of oil.

The sell-off intensified as European markets opened, where Britain’s FTSE 100 down 4.4 percent, Germany’s DAX 4.8 percent and the CAC 40 of France 5.1 percent.

“Even with China selling sharply and emerging markets selling off, we’re still seeing solid U.S. economic growth”. Other Asian markets remained jittery, though the yo-yoing from fresh lows suggested some investors might be venturing back in to snap up bargains.

The Dow was 783 points, or 4.8 percent, lower as of 9:40 a.m. Eastern time. And while the drop is not all down to China, that country’s woes cut a wide swath in the global economy. The S&P 500 has lost 10.78 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq has lost 12.78 percent from the peak both markets hit on July 20. “It’s a stock market correction“, said Mauro Guillen, director of the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and global Studies, at Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Wells Fargo’s chief investment officer for the mid-Atlantic region, John Lynch, says slowing growth in China has been worrying investors this month. Combining last week’s drubbing – the worst since 2011 – and today’s drop (preceded by the New York Stock Exchange invoking the rare “Rule 48”), all three major market indexes are sitting in correction territory. The Nasdaq slid 171.45 points, or 3.5 percent, to 4,706.04.

Share prices across the world have reflected the downward in prices of oil, which crumbled Monday below $39 per barrel for 1st time since 2009.