NEW YORK: Share prices dropped sharply on Thursday after US President Barack Obama proposed new limits on top American banking risk profiles, spurring US Treasury purchases but undercutting gains for the US dollar.
Obama said he is ready to fight the financial sector and its lobbyists for rules that would bar banks from owning, sponsoring or investing in hedge funds or private equity funds for their own profit, causing a bank share sell-off.
At 12:48 EST (1748 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 215.91 points, or 2.04 percent, at 10,387.24. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 21.23 points, or 1.87 percent, at 1,116.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 28.71 points, or 1.25 percent, at 2,262.54. The pan European FTSEurofirst 300 fell 1.56 percent to a one-month closing low of 1,036.07.
The proposals caused a sell-off in the US dollar. The dollar was down 0.78 percent at 90.54 against the yen while the euro was off just 0.05 percent against the dollar at $1.4094, having been as low as $1.4025 on concerns about Greece’s debt woes.
Spot gold prices fell $12.00, or 1.08 percent, to $1,099.30, a near 3-week low.
World oil prices fell Thursday.New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for March delivery, lost 82 cents to $76.92 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March shed 83 cents to $75.49 in late afternoon London trading.
