US stocks sink on dollar fears; Dow -1.85%

NEW YORK–

The Dow dumped more than 330 points Tuesday, March 10, 2015, on renewed worries about higher interest rates and the soaring dollar. AP FILE PHOTO

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 332.78 points (1.85 percent) to 17,662.94.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 35.27 (1.70 percent) to 2,044.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index sank 82.64 (1.67 percent) to 4,859.80.

The dollar pushed to multi-year highs against the euro and the yen amid elevated expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise near-zero rates more quickly than previously anticipated after Friday’s strong US jobs report.

Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, highlighted the drag on US exporters from the strong greenback at a Washington business conference.

“The jobs report from Friday was a wake-up call that high rates are likely coming sooner rather than later and that they’re not going to be taken well by the equity markets,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.

The sell-off was fairly broad-based, but large banks suffered more than most sectors. Dow member JPMorgan Chase lost 2.5 percent, while Citigroup tumbled 3.3 percent.

One day after launching its smartwatch, tech heavyweight Apple fell 2.0 percent. Other tech stocks also dropped, including Google (-2.2 percent) and Facebook (-2.4 percent).

Dow component Chevron fell 1.0 percent as it announced plans to divest $15 billion in assets through 2017, up from the $10 billion previously targeted.

Youth-oriented apparel retailer Urban Outfitters was a standout, jumping 11.5 percent after reporting that fourth-quarter comparable sales rose six percent. Net income dropped 9.5 percent to $80.3 million.

Chipmaker Qualcomm fell 1.1 percent even after announcing it would launch a new $15-billion share repurchase program and hike its dividend by 15 percent.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dropped to 2.13 percent from 2.19 percent, while the 30-year declined to 2.73 percent from 2.80 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.