Dow Ends Down 350 on Fed Taper Talk; Vix Tops 20 for First Time in 2013

 

 

Stocks took a sharp nosedive across the board Thursday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 posting their worst day of 2013, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted the central bank may scale back its asset purchases later this year. 


With the declines from the last two sessions, the Dow and S&P 500 wiped out all of their gains from May and June.  

	Name	Price		Change	%Change
DJIA	Dow Jones Industrial Average	14758.32		-353.87	-2.34%
S&P 500	S&P 500 Index	1588.19		-40.74	-2.50%
NASDAQ	Nasdaq Composite Index	3364.63		-78.57	-2.28%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 353.87 points, or 2.34 percent, to end at 14,758.32, with all 30 components in the red. The last time the blue-chip index closed down more than 300 points was last November. The Dow is down more than 5 percent since its May closing high. 


The S&P 500 tanked 40.74 points, or 2.50 percent, to close at 1,588.19, crashing through a key 1,598 level that traders had been watching. And the Nasdaq tumbled 78.57 points, or 2.28 percent, to finish at 3,364.63. 

All three major averages were back in negative territory for the week, and on track for their fourth-weekly decline in the last five weeks. 

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, spiked near 20, hitting a new high for the year. 

All key S&P sectors finished sharply in the red. Defensive names have been getting hit the hardest over the last two days, the last two days, with utilities and telecoms down more than 4 percent each.
(Read More: Equities Going Higher Despite Fed Taper Talk: Pros) 

Total volume on the NYSE ended at 4.53 billion shares, marking the second heaviest volume day of the year.