NEW YORK — A quiet start on Wall Street is quickly turning into a rout as the bad news piles up.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 200 points in afternoon trading Thursday, erasing its gain for the week. Alcoa fell the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow average, 3.6 percent.
A report from the Philadelphia branch of the Federal Reserve showing a sharp contraction in manufacturing in the Northeast was the latest piece of bad news to discourage investors.
Commodity prices also slumped after a report said manufacturing in China fell this month.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 22 points to 1,333, a decline of 1.7 percent. The Nasdaq composite fell 55 points, 1.9 percent, to 2,875.