Dow Closes Below 15,000, Falls During State Department Briefing
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Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Stocks reversed their gains in the final hour of trading on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing the day below the 15,000 mark.
News out of Washington appears to be the key reason for the late-day slide. Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement that the president will hold Syria’s government accountable for the “moral obscenity” of using chemical weapons unnerved traders. The worry for investors is that the growing turmoil in the Middle East could lead to retaliation against U.S. assets and people — hence the late-day pullback in stocks.
Additionally, published reports that the government will reach the debt limit in mid-October — earlier than expected — bothered investors too.
Volume on Wall Street was very light. For the day, the Dow closed down 64.05 points to finish the session at 14,946.46. The blue chips is on track for its biggest monthly loss since May of last year.
The S&P 500 closed down 6.72 points at 1,656.78. The Nasdaq Composite slid less than a point to 3,657.57.
Facebook shares were at a one-year high for the second straight trading day, trading just under 10 percent from the all-time high. The social networking company’s stock closed at $41.34.
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