An electronic screen displaying trading data is seen at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, on Feb. 5, 2018. U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Monday, with the Dow plummeting 4.60 percent, as the market took a heavy hit from panic sales. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)
NEW YORK, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Monday, with the Dow plummeting 4.60 percent, as the market took a heavy hit from panic sales.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,175.21 points, or 4.60 percent, to 24,345.75. The S&P 500 slumped 113.19 points, or 4.10 percent, to 2,648.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index sank 273.42 points, or 3.78 percent, to 6,967.53.
Monday's rout extended a steep sell-off from the previous session. On Friday, U.S. stocks plunged, with the Dow slumping over 650 points, as investors worried that the Federal Reserve may hike rates on a faster pace after an upbeat jobs report.
U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 200,000 in January, beating market consensus, and the unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 4.1 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Analysts said the market is now thinking about the possibility of the Fed raising interest rates four times this year, after the central bank in December suggested three more increases in 2018.
Investor sentiment was also dampened by a global rout in stock markets. Most European and Asian equity markets finished sharply lower Monday, with Japanese stocks suffering their biggest one-day drop since Nov. 9, 2016.
On the economic front, the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index registered 59.9 percent in January, 3.9 percentage points higher than the seasonally adjusted December reading and beating market consensus of 56.2, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said Monday.
Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted final IHS Markit U.S. Services Business Activity Index registered 53.3 in January, in line with market expectations.
