Wall Street plunged Thursday with Dow Jones closing lowest in nearly two years as a series of bad economic news hit the market and oil prices set a new record at 140 U.S. dollars a barrel.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery settled at a record of 139.64 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as OPEC predicted that oil prices may reach 170 dollars this summer.
In the financials, Goldman analysts said Citigroup may report an 8.9 billion U.S. dollars second-quarter write down and reduced its dividend. Citigroup retreated to a 10-year low. Merrill Lynch, the U.S. third-largest securities firm, also lost ground, after Goldman predicted the company will post a loss in 2008, compared with previous estimate of profit.
Goldman also downgraded GM to "sell" from "neutral." The largest automaker plunged the most in three years.
In corporate news, Nike Inc.'s U.S. earnings and Oracle Corp.'s profit forecast also disappointed investors. Moreover, Research In Motion Ltd., producer of the Black Berry devices, issued a forecast that provides little consolation to investors.
Investors seemed unmoved by the U.S. Commerce Department's upward revision of its first-quarter gross domestic product reading to 1 percent. And the U.S. Labor Department said initial jobless claims remained flat last week.
The Dow Jones plunged 358.41 to 11,453.42, the lowest finish since September 11, 2006. Broader indexes also fell sharply. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 38.82 to 1,283.15 and the Nasdaq slipped 79.89 to 2,321.37.
Source: Xinhua
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