New York: US stocks took a huge plunge on Friday, as investors worried about the political unrest in Egypt, with all 3 major indices falling between 1 and a half to 2 and a half percent. Investors pulled out of the market, fearing the unrest in Egypt could continue into the weekend.
Other market movers included A sharp decline in online retailer Amazon’s stock, which led the tech heavy nasdaq lower. While amazon reported a solid quarter of earnings that easily beat expectations, the company reported that it expects operating income to decline in the current quarter.
And shares of microsoft also took a dive, despite record quarterly sales. Investors noted much of the strong quarter was due to strong holiday sales.
In economic news, the government released figures that showed US 4th quarter GDP grew 3.2%, slightly lower than economists were expecting at 3.5%.
In commodities oil soared up 3.70 or over 4% to 89.34 a barrell. gold was higher 22.30.
In world markets, asian indices ended mixed. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.1% after Standard and Poor’s downgraded its debt from a AA to a AA-.European markets ended the day lower.
Amazon expects sales to come in between $9.1 billion and $9.9 billion, but it anticipates that its perating income will decline.
And more investors sought a safe haven in US bonds, pushing the price of the 10-year bond higher and lower its yield to 3.33%
