Investors worried about a slowdown in global growth helped push stocks sharply lower Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 602 points, or 2.3 percent.
Technology stocks fared especially badly, with Apple down 5 percent, after a report it was cutting orders for iPhone parts. The decline knocked 100 points off the Dow and helped lead to a broader rout. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell almost 2.8 percent., wiping out its gains for November.
"Apple is a bellwether," Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Schwab, told the Financial Times. "Whenever Apple appears to be struggling — for whatever reason — there is the perception that it will impact other tech companies as well. It may or may not be true, but that is the perception."
Shares of banks and financial services companies also fell. Among the big losers was Goldman Sachs, which fell about 7.5 percent amid reports of its involvement in a Malaysian corruption scandal.
Even as the overall U.S. economy is performing well, the stock market has been especially turbulent lately, wiping out its entire gains for the year by the end of October.
Prices have been climbing back since then, but Monday's big losses represented another big setback.
Investors are said to be concerned about signs that economic growth is slowing in other countries. Among the problems cited are Britain's failure to agree on a plan to leave the European Union, and Italy's budget deficits.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
