Wall Street slumped briefly into a bear market yesterday as continuing worries about economic growth and soaring inflation sent America’s investors running for cover.
At one point the benchmark S&P 500 share index was down more than 2 per cent, taking its losses since reaching a record high in January to more than 20 per cent, the threshold that defines bear territory. It rallied late in the session to finish almost flat, but still suffered its seventh straight week of losses, a stretch not seen since the dot-com bubble burst in 2001.
The Dow Jones industrial average suffered its eighth straight week of declines, ensuring its longest losing streak since 1932, despite adding 8.77 points to 31,261.90 yesterday.
The S&P hit a record 4,766.18 points