Market participants across the globe darted out of equities and commodities and piled into safe-havens, due to whispers of the world economy could be drifting back into recession territory. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Today’s Markets
As of 11:15 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 346 points, or 3.1%, to 10,777, the S&P 500 fell 32.8 points, or 2.8%, to 1,133 and the Nasdaq Composite plunged 63.9 points, or 2.5%, 2,474. The FOX 50 shed 22.3 points to 828.
With global markets and U.S. equities in selloff mode, Treasuries rallied. The yield on the 10-year Treasury sunk to 1.769% from 1.868% — briefly touching a record intraday low. Yields on the German bund, one of Europe’s safety plays — fell sharply as well.
While every major sector was down, materials and energy stocks took the biggest beating. Mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper (FCX: 32.69, -2.90, -8.15%) was recently nearly 9% to the downside, while oilfield-servicing firm Halliburton (HAL: 33.08, -2.00, -5.71%) shed more than 6%.
The Federal Reserve moved to lengthen the maturity of its balance sheet, an indirect bid to stimulate the economy, at its meeting that concluded on Wednesday as was widely anticipated. The $400 billion scope of the “twist” from short-term to longer-term Treasuries was, however, modestly broader than many economists had been anticipating, according to a research note from Goldman Sachs.
However, the Dow plunged 284 points in less than two hours after the decision that was dubbed “Operation Twist” was announced, in a sign that many market participants are wary that the central bank won’t be able to reinvigorate a stalling economy.
“A downbeat outlook for the economy combined with the so-called ‘Operation Twist’ economic stimulus not going far enough in many people’s eyes,” David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, a London-based trading firm, wrote in a research note.

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