Stock market has worst week in 3 months

Associated Press

NEW YORK

The stock market recorded its biggest weekly drop in three months as a feeling of malaise took over after the U.S. failed to rally world leaders to come up with plans to strengthen global growth.

“The G-20 wasn’t much of a success for the U.S.,” said Kim Caughey Forrest, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. “There’s a sense that nobody really has the ideas on how to get us out of here.”

On Friday, stocks and commodities took another nosedive on worries that China might put the brakes on its surging economy. Any cooling of China’s economy would slow down demand for raw materials, and that sent prices of oil, metals and grains tumbling.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 90.52, or 0.80 to 11,192.58, led by sharp losses in energy and materials stocks. Construction giant Caterpillar Inc., which has huge operations in China, fell 1.40 percent to $81.04, and oil company Exxon- Mobil Corp. fell 0.84 percent to $70.99.

For the week, the Dow was off 2.2 percent, its seventh-largest weekly drop this year and its biggest weekly fall since the week ending Aug. 13.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 14.33, or 1.2 percent, to 1,199.21, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 37.31, or 1.5 percent, to 2,518.21.