Wall Street plunges as stock selloff continues

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - U.S. stocks plunged Monday, with all three major indexes posting massive declines in volatile trade as investors continued to focus on lingering concerns.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 1,175 points, or 4.6 percent, to close at 24,345 -- the worst single-day point decline in history.

The S&P 500 lost 113 points, or 4.1 percent, to end at 2,648 while the Nasdaq composite fell 273 points, or 3.8 percent, to 6,967.

Both the Dow and the S&P erased all their gains year to date.

The losses on Wall Street began Friday when strong jobs and average hourly earnings data suggested that inflation may hit 2 percent sooner than anticipated, which could prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more quickly and slow down economic growth.

But Monday's extended sell-off suggested that the market could be on a correction path, analysts said.

The indexes closed at record highs in January and stocks may have become overvalued, they added.

President Donald Trump's tax reform coupled with his boasting about the stock market increased investors' confidence.

With investors’ rising risk appetite leading to multiple record highs on the three major indexes last month, a correction looked inevitable.

In the past two trading sessions, the Dow lost 7 percent, while the S&P fell 6.1 percent and the Nasdaq declined 5.7 percent.