U.S. Stocks Tumble as S&P 500 Extends Monthly Decline | Sofia Horta e Costa and Lu Wang

Created by : Francis Goodwin View profile

panda June 24, 2013 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks retreated Monday, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a nine-week low, as Chinese equities entered a bear market amid concern a cash crunch will hurt the world’s second-largest economy and speculation increased that the United States will begin curbing stimulus.

Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. slid more than 2.8 percent as banks tumbled. Barrick Gold Corp. led gold producers lower as the precious metal traded near a 2 1/2-year low. Deere & Co. lost 3.2 percent as JPMorgan Chase & Co. recommended selling the shares. Vanguard Health Systems Inc. surged 67 percent after agreeing to be bought by Tenet Healthcare Corp. for about $1.8 billion.

The S&P 500 fell 1.7 percent to 1,565.07 at 10:01 a.m. in New York, the lowest level on a closing basis since April 22. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 239.03 points, or 1.6 percent, to 14,560.37. Trading in S&P 500 stocks was 33 percent above the 30-day average during this time of day.

The CSI 300 Index’s biggest companies tumbled 6.3 percent, the most since August 2009, taking its decline from this year’s peak to more than 20 percent. China’s central bank said there’s a reasonable amount of liquidity in the financial system and urged banks to control risks from credit expansion, signaling no relief from a cash squeeze.