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Roundup: U.S. stocks slump as oil price drop heightens investor fear

Xinhua, December 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday, as falling crude oil prices heighted investor nervousness on expectations for the first U.S. interest rate hike in nine years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 309.54 points, or 1.76 percent, to 17,265.21. The S&P 500 moved down 39.86 points, or 1.94 percent, to 2,012.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 111.71 points, or 2.21 percent, to 4,933.47.

Oil prices dived to near sever-year lows after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided last Friday to keep crude production pumping at current level in an already oversupplied market.

The declining crude prices knocked down shares of major oil companies.

The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand increased 0.3 percent in November, seasonally adjusted, the Labor Department reported Friday.

On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index fell 1.1 percent for the 12 months ended in November, the tenth consecutive 12-month decline.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department said advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for November rose 0.2 percent from the previous month to 448.1 billion U.S. dollars, also below market expectations.

Total sales for the September 2015 through November 2015 period were up 1.7 percent from the same period a year ago.

In corporate news, U.S. chemical giants DuPont and Dow Chemical on Friday announced a merge in an all-stock deal worth up to approximately 130 billion U.S. dollars.

The combined company will be named DowDuPont, with plans to pursue a separation into three spin-offs eventually.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, soared 26.11 percent to end at 24.39 on Friday, the highest since early October.

In other markets, the U.S. dollar declined against most major currencies despite solid economic data from the country.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0994 dollars from 1.0936 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 120.78 Japanese yen, lower than 121.62 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose as the U.S. dollar showed weakness, despite a looming Fed rate hike.

The most active gold contract for February delivery rose 3.7 U.S. dollars, or 0.35 percent, to settle at 1,075.70 dollars per ounce. Endit