US stock slump deepens as China woes lead to more selling

The main USA benchmark, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, has now had its worst four-day start of a year in history.

Chinese government measures introduced previous year to prop up share prices after a meltdown in June are being gradually withdrawn, leading to volatile trading.

China’s market regulators said later Thursday that they will suspend a mechanism that automatically halts trading when stocks fall sharply.

The downturn in the US has been concentrated in technology stocks, which could suffer if demand for iPhones and other electronics weakens.

Apple sank by 4.25 points, or 4.2%, to close at $96.45. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite has plunged 8 percent since December 29.

This kind of volatility in China has been common in recent months, and because of government regulations, few foreigners even own stocks on the Chinese markets that seized up. The halts, which went into effect at the beginning of the year, were triggered twice this week. Germany’s DAX slid 2.3 percent, the France CAC 40 gave up 1.7 percent, and Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 2.1 percent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2 percent, extending this week’s loss to 7.4 percent, which would be its biggest fall since September 2011.

While the Nasdaq is so far the only major US index to enter a correction, the other two are getting close.

Earlier in the day the Dow was down more than 300 points.

European markets also dropped.

Asian stocks were subdued early on Wednesday as floundering crude oil prices continued to dampen risk sentiment, while the dollar and yen drew support from anxiety over global growth and geopolitical risk stemming from Iran-Saudi tensions. On Thursday, the contract lost 70 cents to $33.27. Brent crude, a benchmark for worldwide oils, fell $1.24, or 3.7 percent, to $32.99 a barrel in London.

China also continues to experience financial turbulence.

CONTAINER STORE STUMBLE: The Container Store reported a surprise third-quarter loss and disappointing sales, and its stock plunged $2.98, or 41.5 percent, to $4.20.

2016 has started with a series of warning signs about China’s economy.

Still, the USA economy remains on track, and shouldn’t be affected too much by China’s struggles, he said.

Worries about China have been fueled by a decline in the value of the yuan and disappointing economic data.

A slowdown in China is seen as a threat by many investors because the country has been the main engine of global economic growth for years, particularly during the depths of the Great Recession.

The Dow and S&P 500 are each down about 6 percent for the week. US stocks dropped Wednesday as investors fretted about signs of belligerence from North Korea and more weakening of China’s econ…

The price of gold and silver both rose more than 1 percent, with gold at $1,103.90 an ounce and silver at $14.16 an ounce. Those prices have been falling for years, but gold prices have recovered recently and are at their highest level in about two months.

However the price of copper declined 6.6 cents, or 3.2 per cent, to $2.022 a pound. Copper producer Freeport-McMoRan lost 34 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $5.83.

The latest plunge in Chinese stocks was set off by concern Beijing is allowing its yuan to weaken too fast against the dollar.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline declined 1.6 cents to $1.146 a gallon and heating oil lost 1.5 cents to $1.066 a gallon. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1 percent to 20,547.46 and Seoul’s Kospi was up 0.6 percent at 1,914.87. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged down to 2.13 percent from 2.15 percent.