Dow closes down 500+ points; stocks see worst month of the year
NEW YORK, NY -- Stocks closed out September with their worst monthly loss since the beginning of the pandemic, and also ended its final trading day of the quarter in the red.
On Thursday, stocks opened higher but went into reverse around midday before finishing the day sharply lower. The Dow closed down 1.6%, or nearly 550 points, while the S&P 500 fell 1.2%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended down by 0.4%. While the market's weakness was broad-based, the hardest hit stocks were in the financial, industrial and consumer sectors -- not tech.
Banks and a mix of companies that provide consumer goods and services posted some of the biggest losses on Thursday.
The S&P 500 ended the month down 4.8%, its first monthly drop since January and the biggest since March 2020. The Dow recorded its worst month since last October.
After climbing steadily for much of the year, the stock market became unsettled in recent weeks with the spread of the more contagious delta variant of Covid-19, a sudden spike in long-term bond yields and word that the Federal Reserve may start to unwind its support for the economy.
