Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were battered and bruised on Thursday completing one of their worst two-day skids on the calendar year, amid a global economic slowdown and rising bond prices, as the markets reacted to the growing possibility that the Federal Reserve could delay a highly-anticipated interest rate hike beyond September.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 350 points to its lowest level since last October while suffering its worst two-day period since late-January. The NASDAQ Composite index and the S&P Composite index also dipped to multi-month lows during the bearish session, as energy, biotech and media stocks weighed on all three indices. Shares in prominent large-cap stocks such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) all took a nosedive on Thursday, each plunging more than 2% on the session.
The Dow plummeted 358.04 or 2.06% to 16,990.69, while the NASDAQ lost 141.56 or 2.82% to close at 4,877.49. The S&P 500, meanwhile, fell 43.88 or 2.11% to 2,035.73, as stocks in all 10 sectors closed in the red. Stocks in the Technology, Energy, Consumer Services, Industrial and Health Care industries lagged, each falling more than 2% on the session.
The massive sell-off was not confined to the U.S., as emerging markets in Asia continued to react to long-term stimulus measures by the People's Bank of China in an effort to rescue a fledgling equities market. In China, stocks on the Shanghai Composite Index fell more than 3.4% on the session to drop below 3,665, while the Japanese Nikkei nearly dropped 1% on Thursday to fall to a six-week low. The downturn spilled over into European markets, as the German DAX and the French CAC both fell by more than 2% on the day.
The top performer on the Dow was Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 0.01 or 0.01% to 68.56. All 30 components of the Dow closed lower on Thursday. The worst performer was Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which fell 6.30 or 5.92% to 100.15, following its second steep downgrade in the span of three days. Earlier on Thursday, analysts from Bernstein lowered their rating on Disney, amid declining TV subscriptions throughout the U.S.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was NetApp Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP), which rose 1.06 or 3.56% to 30.84. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) ended the session as the worst performer, after losing 9.64 or 7.90% to close at 112.42. Shares in Netflix are still up more than 88% on the year.
The top performer on the S&P 500 was Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), which gained 3.83 or 4.57% to 87.60, after reporting positive test results with its Diabetes drug treatment Jardiance. Netflix was also the worst performer on the S&P 500, finishing just below Analog Devices Inc (NASDAQ:ADI), which lost 4.47 or 7.66% to 53.91.
On the New York Stock Exchange, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a 2,674 to 486 margin.