US stocks plunge in early trading after Chinese stock rout

NEW YORK (AP) — A worldwide plunge in stock prices has now engulfed Wall Street, where the Dow industrials fell more than 1,000 points in early trading today.

The S&P 500 fell into correction territory -- meaning a drop of 10 percent or more from a recent peak.

Treasuries surged as investors bought less risky assets.

After the thousand-point drop at the open, the Dow trimmed those losses. Less than an hour after the open, the decline had been reduced to about 300 points.

Growing concerns about a slowdown in China had already shaken markets around the world on Friday, sending the U.S. stock market sharply lower. And a big selloff in Chinese stocks today caused the rout to continue. China's main index sank 8.5 percent today, amid fears over the health of the world's second-largest economy.

Oil prices also tumbled today, along with commodities and the currencies of many developing countries, on concerns that a sharp slowdown in China might hurt economic growth around the globe.

%@AP Links

159-a-09-(Mark Zandi, chief economist, Moody's Analytics, in AP interview)-"two, three decades"-Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi says it's a great buying opportunity for some people. (24 Aug 2015)

<

APPHOTO NYRD103: A pair of traders work in their booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Aug. 24, 2015. World stock markets plunged on Monday after China's main index sank 8.5 percent, its biggest drop since the early days of the global financial crisis, amid deepening fears over the health of the world's second-largest economy. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) (24 Aug 2015)

<