A LATE SELL-OFF inflicted heavy losses on US stock markets today, with investors spooked by news of a blast in Athens and the specter of criminal charges against nine banks.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 113.96 points (1.05 per cent) to 10,782.95 in closing trades.
The tech-rich Nasdaq composite lost 30.66 points (1.26 per cent) at 2394.36 while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 14.23 points (1.21 per cent) to a provisional close of 1157.44.
Having lurched wildly for the past week, stocks hovered in or around the red for most of this session, before a late sell-off.
"Stocks spent most of the session mired in negative territory with a moderate loss, but sellers have intensified their efforts in recent action," Briefing.com analysts said.
As the markets closed, news trickled in from Greece that an explosive device went off outside a maximum security prison near Athens today, injuring one person.
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The country has recently been the scene of violent protests over austerity measures linked to a massive IMF-European Union bailout.
US stocks had soared yesterday on favourable US economic data as well as positive news in Europe even as the continent battles a debt crisis.
Stock markets initially pared a fraction of yesterday's gains on a mixed jobs report which showed new claims for unemployment insurance benefits fell last week for the fourth time in a row.
But the report also reaffirmed the slow pace of the economic recovery.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims totalled 444,000 in the week ending May 8, down 4000 from the prior week's revised figure of 448,000.
"The labor market is gradually recovering as businesses are growing more confident and slowing the pace of payroll reduction," said Andrew Gledhill at Moody's Economy.com.
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