Wall Street in early afternoon declines

In early afternoon trade, Wall Street also saw steep declines a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 14,000 level for the first time in history. The Dow was down 1.26 percent to 13,824.34, while the Naasdaq Composite fell 1.41 percent to 2,681.56 and the S&P 500 was 1.24 percent lower to 1,533.81. Banks, homebuilders, technology stocks, and construction machinery manufacturers were all lower.

European markets, on the other hand, saw major declines. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.16 percent to 1,599.63. In Frankfurt the Dax was 1.46 percent lower to 7,874.85, while the CAC-40 fell 1.79 percent to 5,957.16 in Paris. Madrid’s IBEX dropped 1.82 percent to 14,930.1. Carmakers and the pharmaceuticals sector were higher. Meanwhile, the construction sector, steel products manufacturers, banks, and the oil sector all saw losses.

The London markets did not decline as much as the continental European markets, but they were down as well. The FTSE 100 fell 0.83 percent to 6,585.2, while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.51 percent to 11,819.4. Utilities, tobacco, and the defense sector all saw gains. Miners and insurers were mixed, while online gamers, airlines, and the telecommunications sector all declined on the session.

Asia-Pacific equities markets saw gains on Friday. In India, the Sensex added 0.1 percent to 15,565.55, while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.6 percent to 6,457.7. The Hong Kong and Singapore markets saw even bigger gains, with the Hang Seng index 1.2 percent higher to 23,291.9 while the Straits Times index was up 1.3 percent to 3,651.38. The gains were smaller in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 gained 0.2 percent to 18,157.93 and the Topix closed at 1,776.17, 0.5 percent higher on the session. In Tokyo, the steel and electronics sectors were higher, while consumer finance companies and the telecommunications sector both declined.

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