Wild ride for investors ends with stocks plunging on added worries

Wall Street took investors on a wild ride Wednesday, seesawing dramatically before closing the trading day with a 173-point loss for the benchmark Dow Jones industrial average.

Weak retail sales and other negative economic reports, together with a slowing world economy, sent the Dow plunging as much as 460 points in mid-session trading. It recovered much of the loss, fell again, then rallied.

John Lonski, chief capital markets economist for Moody’s Analytics, said that although no one news event or data point explains the depth of the sell-off, equity markets are grappling with an “accumulation of negatives” that are keeping buyers on the sidelines.

“There are just so many negatives -- Russia, Ukraine, ISIS, this Ebola thing,” he said. “It’s an environment that’s just paralyzing the bulls.”

Investors worried Wednesday that the economic recovery may be losing some momentum after the release of discouraging data about manufacturing and retail sales. The disappointing reports rattled investors who were already worried about a slowdown in economic growth in Europe and China.

The blue-chip Dow index ended with a loss of 173.45, or 1%, to 16,141.74.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index slid 15.21 points, or 0.8%, to 1,862.49 after recovering from a drop of more than 2.3%. The S&P is close to the 10% drop from its Sept. 18 high that market watchers consider a correction.

The NASDAQ composite fell 11.85 points, or 0.3%, to 4,215.32, after recovering from a drop of 2%.

The latest worries arose after the Commerce Department reported that retail sales dropped 0.3% in September from August. Consumers spent less on autos, clothing and building materials, surprising analysts who were anticipating stronger results after several months of robust spending.

A separate index on manufacturing was also disappointing. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its Empire State Manufacturing Index dropped 6.2% in October, the slowest pace of growth in six months.

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