A trader works on the floor following the closing bell as a screen shows the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by more than 1,000 points. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
A trader works on the floor following the closing bell as a screen shows the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by more than 1,000 points. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
A trader works on the floor following the closing bell as a screen shows the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by more than 1,000 points. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
A trader works on the floor following the closing bell as a screen shows the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by more than 1,000 points. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Dow Jones plunges 4.6%, wiping gains of 2018 so far


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US stock markets plunged sharply on Monday, wiping out gains made in 2018 so far, as investors reacted to fears of interest rate rises, threatening President Donald Trump's boasts that he was overseeing a period of accelerating prosperity.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down by 1,175 points, or 4.6 per cent, its biggest fall in more than six years.

Without a late rally it could have been much worse and followed steep losses on Friday as analysts warned investors to expect a period of extreme volatility.

The trigger appeared to be US jobs report released last Friday that said wages were rising at their fastest rate since 2009, prompting warnings of accelerating inflation and a year of interest rate rises ahead.

The question now is whether the fall marks an expected correction after years of steady gains or whether it signals an abrupt end to a low inflation, low interest rate era.

David Kelly, the chief global strategist for JP Morgan Asset Management, said the signs of inflation and rising rates are not as bad as they looked, and that stocks were due for a drop.

“It’s like a kid at a child’s party who, after an afternoon of cake and ice cream, eats one more cookie and that puts them over the edge,” he said.

Such sanguine analysis may not have survived the day, were it not for a late rally after trading screens turned red across Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 4.6 per cent of its value – its biggest percentage fall since 2011 – taking it down 8.5 per cent from its record high in late January.

But at one point it was down as much as 1,600 points, or more than 6 per cent, before rallying.

The previous record fall in a day was 777 points, set during the 2008 financial crisis.

The mayhem puts Mr Trump in an awkward position. He has tied his economic record to gains in the stock market, frequently claiming his policies of tax cuts and deregulation were responsible for record highs.

“The stock market has smashed one record after another, gaining $8 trillion in value,” he said in his State of the Union address just last week.

Critics immediately said that if his policies were responsible for the gains then he must also take responsibility for the pain.

Jay Carney, who served as former president Barack Obama’s press secretary, said on Twitter: “Good time to recall that in the previous administration, we NEVER boasted about the stock market - even though the Dow more than doubled on Obama's watch - because we knew two things: 1) the stock market is not the economy; and 2) if you claim the rise, you own the fall.”

The White House responded with a statement expressing confidence in the state of the economy.

“We're always concerned when the market loses any value," said an official. “But we’re also confident in the economy’s fundamentals.”

However, a key index of market volatility spiked on Monday suggesting there could be more trouble ahead.

The Cboe Volatility Index (known as Vix) rose by as much as 90 per cent, touching its highest level since the devaluation Chinese yuan in 2015, suggesting a period of worse instability than the sell-off that followed the UK Brexit vote.

The slump in the Dow was reflected in other US indexes. The S&P 500 was down 3.8 per cent and the technology-based Nasdaq lost 3.7 per cent of its value.

Shockwaves extended around the world

Britain's FTSE 100 lost 1.5 per cent while a similar loss was registered by France's Cac 40 in reaction to Friday's losses.

In early trading in Japan on Tuesday, the Nikkei index was down 1,025 points, 4.6 per cent of its value. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 4 per cent at 30,951.63, a fall of 1,293 points.

Bitcoin prices also continued to slump, losing another 15 per cent, according to Coindesk, and dropping under $7,000, a far cry from highs of almost $20,000 at the end of 2017.

David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets, wrote on their blog: "Equity traders were enjoying a bullish run recently, and the jolt from the major decline in the US last Friday has triggered a worldwide round of profit-taking."

The falls came on the day Jerome Powell was sworn in as the new chairman of the US Federal Reserve. His job will be to sustain economic growth without letting overheating conditions startle investors.

In a video message, he said he would support continued a healthy job market but stay “vigilant” to any emerging risks.

The specs

Engine: 3.5-litre V6

Power: 272hp at 6,400rpm

Torque: 331Nm from 5,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.7L/100km

On sale: now

Price: Dh149,000

 

Squad

Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas) 

Second Test, Day 2:

South Africa 335 & 75/1 (22.0 ov)
England 205
South Africa lead by 205 runs with 9 wickets remaining

History's medical milestones

1799 - First small pox vaccine administered

1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery

1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases

1895 - Discovery of x-rays

1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time

1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

1953 - Structure of DNA discovered

1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place 

1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill

1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.

1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out

Results

4pm: Al Bastakiya Listed US$300,000 (Dirt) 1,900m; Winner: Emblem Storm, Oisin Murphy (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).

4.35pm: Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 $350,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Wafy, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.

5.10pm: Nad Al Sheba Turf Group 3 $350,000 (Turf) 1,200m; Winner: Wildman Jack, Fernando Jara, Doug O’Neill.

5.45pm: Burj Nahaar Group 3 $350,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Salute The Soldier, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.

6.20pm: Jebel Hatta Group 1 $400,000 (T) 1,800m; Winner: Barney Roy, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.

6.55pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 $600,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Matterhorn, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.

7.30pm: Dubai City Of Gold Group 2 $350,000 (T) 2,410m; Winner: Loxley, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby.

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills

Day 1 results:

Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)

Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)

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Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
BMW M5 specs

Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor

Power: 727hp

Torque: 1,000Nm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh650,000

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
UAE%20v%20West%20Indies
%3Cp%3EFirst%20ODI%20-%20Sunday%2C%20June%204%20%0D%3Cbr%3ESecond%20ODI%20-%20Tuesday%2C%20June%206%20%0D%3Cbr%3EThird%20ODI%20-%20Friday%2C%20June%209%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EMatches%20at%20Sharjah%20Cricket%20Stadium.%20All%20games%20start%20at%204.30pm%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EUAE%20squad%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMuhammad%20Waseem%20(captain)%2C%20Aayan%20Khan%2C%20Adithya%20Shetty%2C%20Ali%20Naseer%2C%20Ansh%20Tandon%2C%20Aryansh%20Sharma%2C%20Asif%20Khan%2C%20Basil%20Hameed%2C%20Ethan%20D%E2%80%99Souza%2C%20Fahad%20Nawaz%2C%20Jonathan%20Figy%2C%20Junaid%20Siddique%2C%20Karthik%20Meiyappan%2C%20Lovepreet%20Singh%2C%20Matiullah%2C%20Mohammed%20Faraazuddin%2C%20Muhammad%20Jawadullah%2C%20Rameez%20Shahzad%2C%20Rohan%20Mustafa%2C%20Sanchit%20Sharma%2C%20Vriitya%20Aravind%2C%20Zahoor%20Khan%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A