U.S. markets stumble after Wednesday’s big rebound, showing volatility amid political uncertainty
www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/12/27/us-markets-stumble-after-wednesdays-big-rebound/?utm_term=.6de43c27e5a2
U.S. markets were down more than 2 percent in Thursday morning trading, giving up some of their big gains from Wednesday, the best single day of trading in almost a decade.
Rattled by political uncertainty, the Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 475 points in early trading. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index were both down 2.14 percent in early trading. Low trading volumes exacerbated the effects of political volatility.
December has been brutal for Wall Street. A number of factors, including a trade conflict with China, interest-rate hikes, President Trump’s attacks on the Federal Reserve and a partial government shutdown, have rattled investors in the worst month since the financial crisis.
Wednesday’s success in U.S. markets was also met with skepticism in Asia and Europe, where markets reopened after a Christmas break. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped nearly 4 percent to 20,077 after suffering big losses earlier in the week. But other Asian markets were relatively neutral. The Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.6 percent to 2,483.09; the Hang Seng Index was down 0.7 percent at 25,478.88. In Europe, post-Christmas performance was shaky. Germany’s DAX fell 0.3 percent to 10,601.98; France’s CAC 40 rose 0.8 percent to 4,664.54. Britain’s FTSE 100 was flat at 6,685.64.