Wall Street falls as disappointing U.S. manufacturing data

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Wall Street falls as disappointing U.S. manufacturing data

Stocks on Wall Street fell more than two percent on Monday (Tuesday morning GMT ) , after reporting surprisingly weak U.S. manufacturing sparked another round of selling amid concerns about the strength of the global economy .

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 326.05 points ( 2.08 percent) to 15372.80 , AFP reported .

The broad-based S & P 500 fell 40.70 points ( 2.28 percent) to 1741.89 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index plunged 106.92 points ( 2.61 percent) to 3996.96 .

" This is the beginning of a correction that we have been waiting for , " said Peter Cardillo , chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital .

The sell-off came after a report showed U.S. manufacturing sector growth slowed sharply in January . Purchasing managers' index of the Institute for Supply Management ( ISM ) slipped to 51.3 from 56.5 in December , not far above the 50 level between expansion and contraction .

Cardillo said economic data " is certainly not good " , but noted that some of the slowdown can be attributed to the extremely cold weather that depress consumption and other activities .

Scott Wren , senior equity strategist , said the stock correction was inevitable after investors bid redundant in late 2013 as an improving economy .

" We are in a moderate growth , moderate inflation environment , " said Wren . "People get carried away with the perceived economic acceleration . "

Wren expects the S & P 500 could fall to as low as 1,700 , but recommends its clients to use the setback as a buying opportunity .

General Motors fell 2.3 percent after January vehicle sales plunged 12 percent , while Ford fell 2.7 percent after sales fell seven percent Januarinya .

January is usually the most difficult month for auto sales because sales showroom is empty after the end of a great year in December . But the winter weather is unusually brutal year makes people at home and even delay the delivery of sales to government and corporate fleets .

Telecom stocks sink after cutting the price by AT & T for smart phones ( smartphones ) raised concerns about the toughness of competition . AT & T fell 4.1 percent , down 3.4 per cent Verizon and Sprint gave up 5.1 percent . Both AT & T and Verizon are in the Dow .

Pfizer was the only member of the Dow rose , rose 0.7 percent after it announced positive clinical data on the drug palbociclib for post-menopausal women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer as advanced or new .

Bond prices soared . The yield on U.S. government 10 - year Treasury fell to 2.58 percent from 2.67 percent on Friday , while the 30 - year fell to 3.54 percent from 3.62 percent . Prices and bond yields move inversely .