Yahoo News Boston Blasts Knock Stock Market Values
The apparent terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon has intensified the recent 'run for cover' on world stock markets.
There had already been a rush to dump gold before the blasts while oil took a fresh tumble amid an earlier world sell-off on fears of slowing economic recovery.
The Dow Jones closed 1.8% lower while Asian markets also lost value overnight as commodity stocks fell. European markets also opened lower.
In London, the FTSE 100 (FTSE: ^FTSE - news) dropped 0.5% at the start of trading.
The effect of the attack on Boston, while seen to be a temporary shock, added to the gloom as fears grew that an end was in sight for Federal Reserve support for the US economic recovery.
The sell-off in markets was triggered by the Chinese government's report on Monday that annualised growth in the world's second-largest economy slowed to 7.7% in the first quarter from 7.9% in the final quarter of last year.
Growth was expected to accelerate slightly to 8%.
Gold endured its sharpest drop in price over two days since 1983 on Monday, with the cost of a troy ounce falling to $1,350 before recovering slightly early on Tuesday.
Brent crude oil tumbled below $100 a barrel overnight as weaker Chinese growth was seen as hitting demand.
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