Stocks fall as gloomy 3rd quarter ends

Stocks fell again Friday, putting the market on track to end its worst quarter since the peak of the financial crisis. 
 
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 103 points, or 0.9 percent, to 11,052 at 11 a.m. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq have all lost more than 10 percent this quarter, the first time that’s happened since the financial crisis crested at the end of 2008.
 
Markets have been wracked this summer by growing fears about a possible default by Greece and the growing likelihood of a global recession. Uneven economic data have prompted steep buying and selling.
 
The losses were broad. All 10 of the S&P’s industry groups lost ground, with financial and industrial companies leading the decline.
 
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 14, or 1.3 percent, to 1,146. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 30, or 1.2 percent, at 2,450.
 
The S&P 500 index is down 12.9 percent since July 1, the start of the third quarter. That’s the biggest quarterly drop since the three months ended Dec. 31, 2008, when global financial markets seized up. Excluding that period, the S&P has not dropped this much in a quarter for nine years.

Stocks in France, England and Germany fell sharply after more signs of division emerged among European leaders. Germany and France proposed managing their shared currency through meetings of nations’ leaders, rather than by a central bureaucracy. The chief of the existing bureaucracy balked at the proposal.
 
Persistent squabbling over financial policy has been a major obstacle to achieving a lasting solution to Europe’s debt crisis. France and Germany, the strongest economies, want countries to coordinate their spending and borrowing more closely. Others see that as a threat to sovereignty.
 
Many European leaders and traders appear convinced that Greece will default in the coming weeks or months. Greece’s lenders and neighbors are preparing as best they can to prevent that from causing a worldwide financial panic.
 
As a result, traders have reacted strongly to news and rumors out of Europe about how the crisis is being managed. Markets have gyrated wildly this summer in some of the most volatile trading on record. The Dow Jones industrial average swung more than 100 points in more than half of the trading days this quarter.
 
Traders also have made big moves in response to U.S. economic data, which has mostly suggested a slowdown. A recession in the U.S. looks increasingly likely, mainly because of Europe’s struggles and some apparent weakness in the developing countries that have driven recent global growth.
 
The government said Friday U.S. consumers spent slightly more in August, but earned less for the first time in nearly two years. That suggests that people are tapping their savings to meet higher gas prices and offset lost wages. The savings rate fell to its lowest level since late 2009.
 
Ingersoll-Rand plunged 16 percent, the most of any stock in the S&P 500 index, after it cut its profit forecast for the third and fourth quarters. The machinery maker said North American sales of climate-control and security products were weak.
 
Micron Technology Inc. plunged 12 percent after the chipmaker disappointed investors with a quarterly loss. Analysts had expected a profit. Sales were hurt as the company transitions to selling a newer array of memory chips.