Stocks Slump as Quarter Ends

By BRENDAN CONWAY And NEIL SHAH, The Wall Street Journal

Stocks closed out the market’s biggest quarterly drop since the financial crisis in 2008 with a triple-digit dive in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Dow shed 240.60 points, or 2.2%, to 10913.38, after a batch of glum overseas economic data weighed on investor sentiment. Stocks sank into the close, finishing at session lows. The loss capped a 12% third-quarter decline for the Dow, the biggest percentage drop since the first quarter of 2009 and the biggest point swoon since 2008′s fourth quarter. The session also capped the measure’s fifth consecutive monthly drop, the longest such streak since the six months ending in February 2009.

The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index shed 28.98 points, or 2.5%, to 1131.42, putting the measure’s quarterly loss at 14%. The Nasdaq Composite tumbled 65.36 points, or 2.6%, to 2415.40, for a 13% quarterly fall. The two indexes each also posted their worst quarterly drops since the fourth quarter of 2008.

The materials sector led all S&P 500 sectors lower as it fell 3.7%. Financial stocks weren’t far behind. Two of the Dow’s three worst-performing stocks in the third quarter led the way lower Friday. Hewlett-Packard fell $1.33, or 5.6%, to $22.45, and Alcoa shed 49 cents, or 4.9%, to 9.57.

Utilities and consumer staples, two sectors viewed as defensive, posted the smallest drops.

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