So much for the promise showed in trading in Australia, the rest of Asia and Europe on Friday – Wall Street turned all that optimism on its head and fell 4% in a late sell-off that showed American investors are probably the most nervous of the lot.
Oil fell under $US20 a barrel, in late trading in New York as traders abandoned it – it had fallen sharply on Wednesday, surged on Thursday, but that optimism didn’t last as it purchased lower in after-hours trading.
The upbeat view of the future in Australia, Asia, and Europe following a series of central bank moves (including the Fed in the US) faded once trading got underway on Wall Street.
The benchmark S&P 500 finished down 4.4% to close the week down 15%, its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis.
The Dow lost more than 900 points on Friday or 4.5%, to end the week down 17.3% while Nasdaq shed 12.4 over the week and 3.8% on Friday.
US government bond yields tumbled as the Fed’s buying kicked in, freeing up the locked up market. The yield on the 10-year and ended at 0.87%, down from 1.158% on Thursday.
Oil futures fell sharply on Friday for the second time in a week and US West Texas (WTI) prices were down 29% for the week—the largest weekly loss since 1991.
The price for WTI settled for April delivery fell $US2.69, or 10.7%, to settle at $USS2.53 a barrel in New York on the contract’s expiration on Friday. May WTI crude, the new front month, fell $3.28, or 12.7%, to $US22.63.
That then slumped further in late trading, falling under $US20 a barrel to settle at $US19.84.
May Brent crude fell $US1.49, or 5.2%, to $US26.98 a barrel in Europe after rising on 14.4% Thursday. On Wednesday, it posted its lowest finish since May 2003.
Comex gold for April delivery rose $US5.30, or 0.4%, to settle at $US1,484.60 an ounce.
For this week, prices for the most-active contract lost 2.1%, according to FactSet. The previous week’s loss of more than 9% was the largest since September 2011.
Comex May silver rose 25.1 cents, or 2.1%, to $US12.385 an ounce, for a weekly decline of 14.6%.
The Aussie dollar swung in a wide, three US cent range on Friday to trade around 57.88 US cents just before 8 am. It had touched a day’s low of 56.65 and nearly cracked the 60 cent level at the session’s peak.
The overnight ASX futures mark was showing a loss of around 87 points just before 8 am Saturday.
That was after an early 5% gain for the ASX 200 faded in late trading for a small rose 33.7 points, or 0.7%, to end at 4,816.6, reversing an earlier gain of nearly 5 percent.
Despite the modest gain, the index still slumped 13% over the week, for the second-largest fall on record, surpassing the 10.9% decline seen in the previous week. Only a 15.6% slide in October 2008 – the depths of the GFC had been larger.
