DOW falls 311 points
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:15 pm
Stocks slammed by housing market worry
Dow falls over 300 points amid mortgage, credit market anxieties
Updated: 9 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Wall Street fell sharply Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrial average down over 300 points, extending its weeks-long streak of volatility after disappointing home sales figures added to investors’ increasing uneasiness about the mortgage and corporate lending markets.
Investors who had been able to shrug off concerns about subprime mortgage lending problems and a more difficult environment for corporate borrowing were clearly worried once again. Anxiety increased after the Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes fell 6.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 834,000 units, more than triple what had been expected and the largest percentage drop since sales fell by 12.7 percent in January.
Traders also weighed a mixed batch of second-quarter earnings reports from major names like Ford Motor Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp. But disappointing results from home builders including Pulte Homes Inc. and D.R. Horton Inc. — squeezed by a sluggish environment from home sales and continued defaults in subprime loans — weighed heavily on the market.
“Wall Street continues to walk a wall of worry,” said Ryan Larson, a senior equity trader at Voyageur Asset Management. “The housing market continues to be a story, and nobody knows when it will rebound. But, the real concerns are about credit and oil pushing higher.”
Jitters remain throughout the market that the number of private-equity deals — a main driver of the market’s record run — might dry up because buyout shops are having difficulties accessing credit. On Wednesday, a group of banks had to postpone a $12 billion offering to raise funds for Chrysler Group’s acquisition by Cerberus Capital.
Meanwhile, a barrel of crude oil was up $1.12 at $77 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, feeding the market’s worries about inflation.
Thursday marked the eighth straight session in which the market has fallen after rising the day before — or vice-versa. Wall Street has been unable to put together back-to-back gains or losses in that stretch. On Wednesday, the Dow rose 68 points.
The Dow was lately down 318.24 points, or 2.31 percent, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index slid 38.62 points, or 2.54 percent, and was dipping below the 1,500 level for the first time since June 27. The Nasdaq composite index tumbled 68.25 points, or 2.58 percent.
The steep decline in stocks has been a boon for the Treasury market as traders shifted cash into safer investments. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.84 percent from 4.90 percent late Wednesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices were lower.
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The DOW is now slowly coming up to a -272.8 so far.
Dow falls over 300 points amid mortgage, credit market anxieties
Updated: 9 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Wall Street fell sharply Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrial average down over 300 points, extending its weeks-long streak of volatility after disappointing home sales figures added to investors’ increasing uneasiness about the mortgage and corporate lending markets.
Investors who had been able to shrug off concerns about subprime mortgage lending problems and a more difficult environment for corporate borrowing were clearly worried once again. Anxiety increased after the Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes fell 6.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 834,000 units, more than triple what had been expected and the largest percentage drop since sales fell by 12.7 percent in January.
Traders also weighed a mixed batch of second-quarter earnings reports from major names like Ford Motor Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp. But disappointing results from home builders including Pulte Homes Inc. and D.R. Horton Inc. — squeezed by a sluggish environment from home sales and continued defaults in subprime loans — weighed heavily on the market.
“Wall Street continues to walk a wall of worry,” said Ryan Larson, a senior equity trader at Voyageur Asset Management. “The housing market continues to be a story, and nobody knows when it will rebound. But, the real concerns are about credit and oil pushing higher.”
Jitters remain throughout the market that the number of private-equity deals — a main driver of the market’s record run — might dry up because buyout shops are having difficulties accessing credit. On Wednesday, a group of banks had to postpone a $12 billion offering to raise funds for Chrysler Group’s acquisition by Cerberus Capital.
Meanwhile, a barrel of crude oil was up $1.12 at $77 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, feeding the market’s worries about inflation.
Thursday marked the eighth straight session in which the market has fallen after rising the day before — or vice-versa. Wall Street has been unable to put together back-to-back gains or losses in that stretch. On Wednesday, the Dow rose 68 points.
The Dow was lately down 318.24 points, or 2.31 percent, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index slid 38.62 points, or 2.54 percent, and was dipping below the 1,500 level for the first time since June 27. The Nasdaq composite index tumbled 68.25 points, or 2.58 percent.
The steep decline in stocks has been a boon for the Treasury market as traders shifted cash into safer investments. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.84 percent from 4.90 percent late Wednesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices were lower.
____________________________________________________________________________
The DOW is now slowly coming up to a -272.8 so far.
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