NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Wall Street ended a fourth week of losses on a down note yesterday as most buyers left the market before the weekend on growing fears of another U.S. recession and destabilization in Europe’s financial system.
Investors already reeling from big losses in growth stocks were thumped by a dismal outlook from Hewlett-Packard, which dropped nearly 20 percent, its worst day since the stock-market crash of 1987.
It was the latest discouraging event in a month full of bad surprises ranging from the U.S. credit rating downgrade to a sharp slowdown in world growth. The S&P has lost 13.1 percent so far this month — on track for its worst month since October 2008. “What I’m seeing right now is a basically a crisis of confidence, more so than an economic crisis or financial crisis necessarily at this stage,” said Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management in Bethesda, Maryland, which manages about $14.8 billion.