By Jessica Menton - U.S. stocks closed in the red on Wednesday after a volatile trading session, but managed to recover from deep losses sustained in the day's early trading amid concerns of slowing global economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 173.45 points, or 1.06 percent, to close at 16,141.74; the S&P 500 Index fell 15.21 points, or 0.81 percent, to end at 1,836.75; the Nasdaq Composite lost 11.85 points, or 0.28 percent, to finish at 4,215.32.
Keith Bliss, senior vice president and director of sales & marketing at Cuttone & Co., Inc., spoke to IBTimes TV from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange following Wednesday's volatile session. Here's what he had to say.
“Well the volatility was foretold. It was bound to happen. You can’t go through such a long period of low volatility without things starting to creep in,” said Bliss.
The Dow plunged as much as 450 points on Wednesday, on the heels of weaker-than-expected economic data and growing concerns about whether sluggish growth in the rest of the world is beginning to hit the U.S. economy. The CBOE Volatility Index, or the VIX, considered the best gauge of fear in the market, spiked to 30. Meanwhile, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield closed below 2 percent for the first time since May 2013.
“Right now it’s actually less volatile and it’s more velocity. We’re accelerating to the downside and high frequency traders are triggering a huge volume early in the morning,” said Marths Stokes, chartered market technician and chief executive officer of TechniTrader.
Dow futures lost more than 150 points ahead of the open after a trio of weaker-than-expected economic data weighed on investor sentiment.
The data revealed retail sales dropped in September, while the Producer Price Index unexpectedly fell by 0.1 percent last month. Meanwhile, the New York Manufacturing Index revealed slower growth in October, as the business activity index tumbled to 6.2 in October from 27.5 in September.
The Dow plunged as much as 350 points in early trading, only to reverse quickly. However, the Dow then tumbled 450 points in mid-day trading. In the midst of a financial market tailspin, the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book on economic conditions and said the U.S. economy is seeing steady growth. Although the Dow began to cut losses following the Fed's announcement, it still ended the session with triple digit losses.
Ahead on the economic calendar, the U.S. Department of Labor is scheduled to release its weekly jobless claims data.