US stocks slump on Span fears

NEW YORK: US stocks dived Wednesday in the wake of European and Asian
losses on rising investor worries about Spain's weak banks.

The
yield on the US Treasury's 10-year bond hit an all-time record low and
the dollar reached a nearly two-year high against the euro as investors
sought safety from Europe's troubles.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 160.83 points, or 1.28 percent, to finish the session at 12,419.86.

The
SandP 500 index, a broad measure of the markets, tumbled 19.10 (1.43
percent) to 1,313.32, while the tech-rich Nasdaq dropped 33.63 (1.17
percent) to 2,837.36.

"There is nothing that can be considered
bullish news from Europe today, so the bearish news on Spain is (in
the) forefront," said Dick Green at Briefing.com.

"The bottom
line is that the mess in Europe remains a mess. There is no consensus
across countries on how to address the credit crisis and the political
institutions to deal with EU matters are still feeling their way."

Twenty-nine of the Dow's 30 blue-chip stocks closed in the red, with Intel bucking the sell-off with a fractional gain.

Alcoa
skidded 3.5 percent, Caterpillar lost 2.5 percent, General Electric was
down 1.6 percent and JPMorgan Chase shed 2.0 percent.

ExxonMobil and Chevron both plunged 2.6 percent amid sharp falls in crude oil prices.

Shares
in struggling BlackBerry maker Research In Motion plummeted 7.1 percent
after the company warned after markets closed Tuesday that it expected
an operating loss in the current quarter and had hired investment banks
to weigh its options.

Facebook fell 2.3 percent to US$28.19, almost US$10 below its May 18 market debut price of US$38.

Monsanto was a rare bright spot, up 2.2 percent after raising its earnings outlook on strong seed sales.

So
was Apple, up 1.2 percent after chief executive Tim Cook hinted that
products on the horizon could come in the area of television.

With
fear sweeping the Street, nervous investors awaited a series of US
economic data, capped Friday by the keenly awaited May jobs report.

"With
so little news flow today many participants anxiously await the second
reading on first-quarter GDP, which is due tomorrow along with weekly
initial jobless claims and the latest monthly ADP Employment Change,"
said Briefing.com analysts. -- AFP