By The New York Times
AFTER JUST A few days of calm, stocks declined steeply on today in a worldwide sell-off.
The downturn was driven by fresh concerns that the worldwide economy is slowing and that Europe’s debt crisis is putting strain on the financial sector.
As the session ended at 4 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 420 points, or 3.7 percent.
The broader market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, was down about 4.5 percent.
The yield on the Treasury’s 10-year note fell below 2 percent for much of the day, the lowest level on record, as investors turned to the safety of fixed-income securities.
Gold rose. Oil fell as markets lowered their expectations of global economic growth.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?emc=na
