Friday, May 14, 2010

Superior Gold Group - US stocks slide, Dow slips 153 points on Euro debt crisis

US stocks dived for the second day running Friday as fresh concerns over the European debt crisis gripped Wall Street amid a tumbling euro.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 153.72 points (1.43%) to 10,629.23 after surrendering more than 100 points a day earlier.

The tech-rich Nasdaq composite lost 51.42 points (2.15%) at 2,342.94 while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 20.13 points (1.74%) to 1,137.31.

Wall Street opened on a bearish note as markets elsewhere were slammed by fresh eurozone crisis concerns that also sent gold soaring to new record peaks.

The European single currency nosedived to an 18-month low amid the prospect of eurozone austerity cuts that could derail fragile economic recovery.

US stocks were under pressure "as festering fears regarding the euro-area's debt crisis and the impact of measures being implemented to try to restore sustainable fiscal policy on the global recovery are lassoing the bulls," analysts at Charles Schwab & Co said in a client note.

The concerns toward Europe were more than offsetting data showing a larger-than-expected increase in US retail sales in April, the analysts said.

US retail sales rose for the seventh straight month -- up 0.4% and slightly higher than the 0.2% expected by most analysts, according to data from the Commerce Department.