BA Boeing Co

By Ellie Ismailidou and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

Financials crumble; investors flock to gold, Treasurys

The Dow industrials and S&P 500 rang up their fifth losing day in a row Thursday, falling amid a global rout led by tumbling oil prices and losses in financial stocks.

The main indexes tried to stage a comeback in late-afternoon trade, after the oil minister of the United Arab Emirates said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are "ready to cooperate" on a production cut. But the remarks, reported by The Wall Street Journal, weren't enough to sustain the rebound.

Remarks from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen during her second day of testimony on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, didn't help lift investor sentiment.

Also read:5 charts show the face of Thursday's panicky trading (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-charts-show-the-face-of-thursdays-panicky-trading-2016-02-11)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its losses cut in half at one point but closed 255 points, or 1.2%, lower at 15,660, weighed by a nearly 7% drop in Boeing Company (BA). The blue-chip gauge broke below its closing low of Aug. 25, tumbling to its lowest closing level since Feb. 6, 2014.

The S&P 500 ended the day down 23 points, or 1.2%, at 1,829, its lowest close since April 11, 2014.

The index briefly fell below its Jan. 20 intraday low of 1,812.29, a significant support level, which has been described (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-futures-drop-200-points-setting-wall-street-up-for-an-ugly-start-2016-02-08) as a "significant short-term technical formation" after which there is "a downside pattern."

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite closed 17 points, or 0.4%, lower at 4,266, after briefly moving into positive territory.

Also read:Stock market live blog: Global equity rout intensifies; yields plunge, yen soars (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2016/02/11/stock-market-live-blog-global-equity-rout-intensifies-yields-plunge-yen-soars/#wysiwygEditor)

A temporary lift from chatter about a coordinated effort to cut oil production was quickly discounted by investors who had heard similar reports before. "OPEC rumors have boosted the market before but the long-term trend has been the opposite: supply is going up," said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners.

The global stock rout started in Asia and Europe and deepened in U.S. morning trade as Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen testified before the Senate Banking Committee (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2016/02/11/live-video-and-updates-of-janet-yellens-appearance-in-senate-committee/).

The Fed chief defended the central bank's December rate increase, claiming it was designed to diminish accommodation "by a modest amount", repeating many of her views expressed in her testimony to the House Financial Services on Wednesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/yellen-says-financial-conditions-less-supportive-to-growth-2016-02-10).

Strategists called Thursday's selloff a repeat of the same risk-off theme fueled by fears of economic slowdown that has been rattling global markets since the beginning of the year.

"It's a global cocktail that continues to be crafted on a daily basis [including] worries about negative interest rates coupled with pain in the banking sector and falling crude oil signaling deflation," said Michael Antonelli, equity sales trader at R.W Baird & Co.

As risk assets got slammed, demand for so-called haven assets like gold and government bonds surged. The 10-year Treasury yield , the Treasury market's benchmark, closed at its lowest level in almost three years (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-yields-plunge-to-lowest-level-since-august-2012-2016-02-11) (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-yields-plunge-to-lowest-level-since-august-2012-2016-02-11), while gold , also considered a safe asset, soared to a one-year high (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-jumps-to-1-year-high-as-global-market-rout-spurs-safe-haven-buying-2016-02-11).

Stephen Guilfoyle, managing director of NYSE floor operations at Deep Value Execution Services, also cited the "outright depression in manufacturing" along with an earnings recession and "crippled European financials" amid the forces behind the selloff.

Financials weighed heaviest on the S&P 500, down 3%, as ultralow interest rates and widening credit spreads have contribute to worries about banks' balance sheets. The SPDR Financial Select Sector exchange-traded fund (XLF) has tumbled more than 17% year to date. Banking giants Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) were among the leading laggards on the Dow industrials, both down over 4%.

Read:Bond market, Yellen face off on negative interest rates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bond-market-yellen-face-off-on-negative-interest-rates-2016-02-10)

Fed expectations: The December Fed-funds futures contract has fully taken out the odds of a rate increase by year-end and the contract table all through 2016 is now beginning to price in a rate cut, according to data from the Lindsey Group.

On the U.S. data docket, the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits in early February fell to the lowest level (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/low-jobless-claims-show-no-sign-of-rising-layoffs-2016-02-11)in almost two months, a reassuring sign that few workers are losing their jobs despite a slowdown in hiring.

Greenback falls: The dollar plunged Thursday to the lowest level against the yen (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-rebounds-vs-yen-on-rumors-of-boj-intervention-2016-02-11) since 2014, but later recovered somewhat. Some investors speculated that the Bank of Japan may have intervened to weaken its currency.

Read:The one stock sector you need to fight the bear-market flu (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-one-stock-sector-you-need-to-fight-the-spreading-bear-market-virus-2016-02-11)

Oil blues: Falling oil prices continued to weigh on global equities. West Texas Intermediate crude oil slid below $27 a barrel, settling at its lowest level in nearly 13 years (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/crude-shrugs-off-supply-decline-pushes-below-27-a-barrel-2016-02-11) (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/crude-shrugs-off-supply-decline-pushes-below-27-a-barrel-2016-02-11), before paring losses in electronic trade.

The Velocity Shares 3X Long Crude ETN (UWTI) reversed heavy losses to close up 1.5%.

Other movers: Shares of Boeing Co. (BA) plunged following a Bloomberg report that the Securities and Exchange Commission had launched an accounting probe (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/boeings-stock-plunge-is-of-historic-proportions-2016-02-11).

Shares of Twitter Inc. (TWTR) lost 4.5% after the social-media company late Wednesday reported flat user growth for the fourth-quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitter-proves-wall-street-critics-were-right-2016-02-10).

On a more upbeat note, Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) jumped 9.6% after its second-quarter earnings and revenue, released late Wednesday, beat forecasts (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cisco-beats-estimates-and-raises-dividend-2016-02-10).

Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) gained 4.7% after the luxury electric car maker said it could achieve a net profit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tesla-reports-loss-but-says-profit-in-sight-2016-02-10) in the final quarter of 2016.

PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) slipped 0.7% as the company issued a soft outlook (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pepsico-profit-up-31-but-outlook-is-soft-2016-02-11).

Other markets: Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index returned to trading after the Lunar New Year with a 3.9% tumble. That helped drive a selloff at the open in Europe, where banks were hard hit. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell to its lowest close since October 2013 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-knocked-to-lowest-since-2013-as-fear-selling-returns-2016-02-11).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 11, 2016 16:48 ET (21:48 GMT)

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