Welcome to being Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen! Stocks reacted to the lousy economy, and Yellen’s swearing in as Federal Reserve chair by tanking 326 points on the Dow Jones Industrial. The Nasdaq dropped over 100 points and finished under 4,000 for the first time in mohths. The S&P 500 plummeted 41 points for a 2.6% one day drop.
The Dow plummeted 326 points — and the S&P 500 tumbled 2.3% — as anxiety swelled over the global factory sector and instability in emerging markets.
Today’s Markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 326 points, or 2.1%, to 15373, the S&P 500 slumped 40.7 points, or 2.3%, to 1742 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 107 points, or 2.6%, to 3996.
January was a tough month. The S&P 500 slid 3.6% in the broad market average’s worst month since May 2012 and its worst January since 2010.
The tumble was driven by worries about intense volatility in emerging-market currencies, coupled with brewing trouble in China. So far, February is off to a similarly grim start.