NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks finished sharply lower Wednesday following mixed US economic data amid worsening anxiety over global economic growth and the first confirmed Ebola case in the United States.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City on August 26, 2014
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 238.19 points (1.40 per cent) to 16,804.71.
The broad-based S&P 500 tumbled 26.13 (1.32 per cent) to 1,946.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index sank 71.30 (1.59 per cent) to 4,422.09.
US private-sector employment increased by 213,000 in September from August, according to payroll company ADP.
But the Commerce Department reported that construction spending in August fell unexpectedly, by 0.8 per cent, while a report from the Institute for Supply Management pointed to a modest slowdown in September manufacturing activity compared with the prior month.
Analysts described worries over a range of issues, including the strengthening US dollar, lower oil prices that have hit energy equities and the first confirmed US case of the Ebola virus.
Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities, described market sentiment as "terrible."
The losses were fairly broad-based. Virtually all of the 30-member Dow dropped, including Intel (-2.4 per cent), Johnson & Johnson (-2.2 per cent), JPMorgan Chase (-0.8 per cent) and Wal-Mart Stores (-0.5 per cent.)
Airline stocks suffered on speculation the US Ebola case would result in lower passenger traffic. Delta Air Lines fell 3.5 per cent, while United Airlines lost 2.8 per cent.
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, which is developing treatment for the Ebola virus, soared 18.2 per cent.
General Motors jumped 1.7 per cent as it outlined plans to achieve 9.0-10.0 per cent pre-tax profit margins by the early 2020s. Key elements included returning the European unit to profitability in 2016 and growing China sales to more than 30 million vehicles in 2018.
Cola-Cola gained 0.2 per cent to become the lone Dow member to finish higher after bowing to criticism from Warren Buffett and others, trimming its executive compensation plan.
The New York Times Company jumped 9.6 per cent over plans to eliminate 100 newsroom jobs to cut costs, a reduction representing around 7.5 per cent of the newsroom staff.
Bond prices leaped higher. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.40 per cent from 2.51 per cent Tuesday, while the 30-year yield declined to 3.11 per cent from 3.21 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.