Market Pulse

The Dow is threatening to book its 4th largest daily point plunge in its history

The Dow Jones Industrial Average late Friday afternoon is on the verge of marking its fourth largest point decline in its history as selling pressure intensifies on the back of worries about global trade and monetary-policy tightening by the Federal Reserve. The Dow DJIA+0.52% was down by as many as 767 points at its nadir, with a decline of that magnitude representing its largest one-day skid since it plunged 1,032 points on Feb. 8, which pushed the blue-chip average into correction territory. A correction is defined as a drop of at least 10% from a recent peak. To be sure, on a percentage basis, the current slide, about a 3% daily drop, doesn't rank high at all. However, the pullback for the 121-year-old benchmark follows a period of repeated records in 2017 and a blistering start to this year. A fresh flare up in tensions between China and the U.S., with the threat of an all-out trade war at hand, have rattled investors. Meanwhile, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Friday that he expected to continue to hike interest rates, lifting borrowing costs for corporations, potentially a bearish factor for the market, even if Wall Street has priced in a further two rate increases in 2018.

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