Dow drops 172 points

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194754.html

The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen 172.93 points, one day after it dropped over 400 points and rattled world markets.

On Friday, the Dow closed at 10,817.65, a decline of 1.57 percent.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones plummeted 419 points, and over the three days from August 17 to 19, it has dropped 588.28 points or 5.16 percent of its value.

Lack of economic news made investors uncertain, although the possibility of a further deterioration of the US and Europe economic recession over the weekend compelled many traders to get rid of stocks and other risky assets before the market closing, AP reported.

"These things usually break out over the weekend and then you have a mad dash Monday to react to them," said Mike McGervey, the head of McGervey Wealth Management.

Other stock markets had larger drops than stock markets in the US, as European banking stocks fell to near an 18-month low.

Earlier in the day, London's FTSE and Germany's DAX were down over three percent, while France's CAC 40 was down by 1.9 percent, Japan's Nikkei dropped 225 points, markets in Taiwan hit a 14-month low, China's Shanghai Composite index lost 25 points, South Korea's Kospi shed 116 points, and India's Sensex lost 328 points.