Stocks, Commodities Drop on Fears of Slower Growth

A choppy morning gave way to heavy afternoon selling as investors weighed the implications of the Fed’s action and statement. Commodities plunged, at the prospect a slower economic growth, with gold and oil experiencing large declines.

The Dow fell -293.00 , the Nasdaq Composite -58.30, and the S&P 500 -32.32.

Morgan Stanley
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reported a 42% decline in first quarter profit, but beat estimates by $0.42. MS shares rose 1.4%.

General Mills
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also beat estimates, reporting earnings of $0.87 per share. GIS shares gained 1.2%.

Actuant
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reported earnings of $0.43, above expectations by $0.02. ATU share were virtually unchanged.

Commodity stocks were hit hard, with large declines for Barrick Gold, Newmont Mining, Alcoa, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, et al.

Lehman Brothers
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and Merrill Lynch
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fell 9.2% and 11.1% respectively.

Adobe Systems
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jumped 9% after reporting better than expected numbers.

And on its first day of trading, shares of Visa
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surged 28.4% on the NYSE. Visa’s IPO was the largest in U.S. history.

Market Snapshot

Dow

-293.00 12099.66

NASDAQ

-58.30 2209.96

S&P 500

-32.32 1298.42

Economic
News

Crude Inventories (03/15): Actual 133K, Previous 6177K