Dow Jones drops more than 300 points

Stocks in the US continued to decline amid hawkish remarks from Boston Federal Reserve Bank President, Eric Rosengren arguing that there is reasonable case for raising rates gradually. His comments boosted the US dollar. US stocks were having the worst day since June.

Near the end of the week, the Dow Jones was falling 1.63% or 308 points (at 18,175; lowest level since July 11) while the Nasdaq was losing 2.00%. Crude oil was also sharply lower, with the WTI barrel at $45.95 (-3.50%). The decline in crude oil prices was also affecting equity prices.

In Europe, stock markets finished lower. The Italian FTSE MIB lost 1.26%, in France the CAC 40 dropped 1.12% and Spain’s IBEX 35 declined 0.84%.

In the currency market, the US dollar was the best performer while commodity currencies were the most affected by risk aversion across financial markets.