Eric Martin
Bloomberg
Thursday, May 21, 2009
May 21 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell for a third day, extending a global slump, as jobless claims topped forecasts and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the financial crisis isn’t over.
AK Steel Holdings Corp. and Deere & Co. slid more than 3.7 percent to lead commodity and industrial companies to the worst declines among 10 industries on concern the recession may be worse than expected. Regions Financial Corp. tumbled 19 percent after selling shares at a discount. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index plunged 2.5 percent and gilts slid after Standard & Poor’s said Britain may lose its AAA credit rating for the first time.
The S&P 500, which has rebounded 32 percent from its 12- year low on March 9, slid 1.2 percent to 892.24 at 10:05 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 117.48 points, or 1.4 percent, to 8,304.56. Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index tumbled 1.6 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.7 percent.
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“We need good numbers as opposed to less bad numbers,” Kevin Rendino, who oversees $10 billion at New York-based BlackRock Inc., said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “When you look at 600,000 of jobless claims, no matter how you slice it, it’s a bad number.”
U.S. stocks erased gains in the final hour of trading yesterday after minutes from the Fed’s April meeting predicted a deeper recession and American Express said growth won’t return to levels from before the downturn in the economy.
AK Steel, the fourth-largest U.S. steel company, lost 50 cents to $13.09. Deere, the largest maker of farm equipment, slid $2.23 to $42.10.
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