Nasdaq leads Wall Street lower on economic worry
The Nasdaq sank, leading US stocks lower, as investors sold recent winners in a sign of growing unease with pockets of US economic weakness.
The Dow Jones industrial average declined 47.38 points, or 0.38 percent, to close at 12,548.37. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 8.30 points, or 0.62 percent, to end at 1,329.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 46.16 points, or 1.63 percent, to 2,782.31
European shares closed lower with banks most exposed to peripheral euro zone debt pressured by the region's debt crisis as finance ministers meet to discuss further austerity steps for Greece.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top shares closed 0.2 percent lower at 1,138.74 points, with thin volume -- just 72 percent of its 90-day average -- seen exaggerating moves. Banking heavyweights BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and UniCredit were all down between 2.1 percent and 2.5 percent.Japan's Nikkei stock average hit a 1-month low to end just under a key technical level, hurt by volatile commodities as well as concerns about global growth and market participants said a decisive break below that level could trigger further losses.
Banks and utilities lost further ground on worries about how much they will have to contribute to help troubled nuclear operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) compensate victims of the crisis at its tsunami-hit nuclear plant.
The benchmark Nikkei average ended down for a third straight day, losing 0.9 percent to 9,558.30, while the broader Topix shed 1.2 percent to 829.55.
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