Wall Street’s whipsaw run continued on Thursday as US shares traded sharply lower again, giving back part of the previous day’s record-breaking bounce that had cut bruising losses from a turbulent run-up to Christmas.
The S&P 500 index was down 1.8 per cent at 2,422 by late afternoon in New York, with the Dow Jones down 1.7 per cent, after data showed US consumer sentiment had worsened more than analysts expected. The Nasdaq Composite, back in a bear market, was 2.2 per cent lower.
The December Conference Board survey showed confidence at its lowest level for five months, as political tensions and the economic outlook feed through into expectations for job prospects and business conditions.