Dow drops 360 and S&P 500 erases gains for year in sell-off

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 360 points Thursday at the close of trading, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index erased gains for the year as the sell-off in the emerging-market sector deepened, fanning concerns over slowing global growth.

At the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down 358 points, about 2.1 percent, at 16,990.1. The S & P 500 lost nearly 44 points, about 2.1 percent, to 2,035.7, and the Nasdaq composite gave up 141.6 points, about 2.8 percent, to 4,877.5.

CRUDE ENERGY: As the markets closed, the price of benchmark U.S. crude oil dropped 18 cents to $41.09 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Analysts suggested that the price was being affected by the approach of Hurricane Danny, the first of the Atlantic season.

SHARES TAKE A BEATING: Netflix Inc. lost 7.8 percent as investors targeted the biggest winners of the year. Shares fell $9.51 to close at $112.55. The Walt Disney Co. tumbled 6 percent on an analyst's downgrade. Disney shares fell $6.43 to close at $100.02.

MORE CONCERN THAN HOPE: "Right now there are so many more concerns than hopes," said Larry Peruzzi, director of international trading at Cabrera Capital Markets LLC in Boston. "There are global growth concerns, Fed minutes created some uncertainty about rates, and also playing a part is oil poised to dip below $40. Add in light August volumes in the stock pot and you get a negative 1 percent move."

MORE DEVALUATION: The rout in emerging markets intensified as Kazakhstan abandoned its currency trading peg, joining Vietnam after China's devaluation.

CITIGROUP CUTS FORECAST: Currency weakness and a slowdown in Chinese growth prompted Citigroup Inc. to cut its 2016 global growth forecast to 3.1 percent from 3.3 percent, its third consecutive downgrade, while holding its 2015 estimate at 2.7 percent. Citigroup closed down $1.67, about 3 percent, at $55.33.