S&P 500 index heads for its worst month in 2 years

S&P 500 index heads for its worst month in 2 years

S&P 500 index heads for its worst month in 2 years

Indexes started higher on Wednesday but then waffled for much of the day before turning sharply lower in the last hour of trading.

Celgene, a drugmaker, sank 9 per cent after the FDA said it's not ready to review the company's multiple sclerosis drug.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index finished down less than 1 percent on Wednesday but is up more than 5 percent on the year. It is down 3.9 percent for February but still up 1.5 percent in 2018. It had been posting monthly gains, including dividends, since October 2016.

The S&P 500 fell 30.45 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,713.83, while the Dow Jones industrial average lost 380.83, or 1.5 percent, to 25,029.20 and the Nasdaq composite dropped 57.35, or 0.8 percent, to 7,273.01. Brent crude, the global standard, fell 1 cent to $64.72 per barrel.

Asian shares were mostly lower Thursday as sentiments got dragged down by a slide on Wall Street.

Oil prices continue to drop following a report on Wednesday that showed more crude supplies in inventories last week than analysts expected.

Brad Pitt Joins Leonardo DiCaprio In Quentin Tarantino's New Movie
Margot Robbie will play Sharon Tate , the next-door neighbor best known for being a Charles Manson murder victim. Tarantino has previously expressed a desire to retire from filmmaking after completing his tenth film.

Arizona coach Sean Miller doubles down: 'I've never paid a recruit'
Robbins said Miller did not coach against OR because the school did not know all the details and given the shock of the report. ESPN issued a correction on it's original story to say the conversation happened in 2016, but 247 Sports reports the U.S.

San Antonio Spurs: LaMarcus Aldridge day-to-day with ankle injury
Davis didn't have the monster game he had against Phoenix on Monday, when he finished with 53 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks. The Spurs surged to a 60-51 lead at the half, and Holiday said Gentry's halftime speech "lit a fire" under the Pelicans.

Another potential source of concern will be the latest reading on personal consumption expenditure, the central bank's favored gauge of inflation, which is expected to have increased 0.3 percent on a core-basis in January after a 0.2 percent gain in December.

The Cboe Volatility Index.VIX, the most widely followed barometer of expected near-term volatility of the S&P 500 index .SPX, closed up 1.26 at 19.85, its highest close in a week.

The Dow Jones ended up losing 420 points to close the day at 24,608. The Nasdaq is 3.1 percent below its all-time peak.

The testimony, due at 1500 GMT, follows Powell's first appearance in Congress on Tuesday, which did little to cool market fears that his arrival at the Fed could see it deliver more USA rate rises than previously expected this year.

Earlier in the week, Powell helped send Treasury yields jumping and stocks tumbling when he said that he's feeling more optimistic about the economy.

TJX Cos. jumped 7.4 after boosting its dividend and announcing a stock buyback. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.6 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.6 per cent. The company is ending sales of assault rifles and banning the sale of guns to anyone under 21 years old.

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