World Bank report hammers stocks

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2009 | by Matt Krantz

Investors betting on a healing economy suffered a big setback Monday.

The Dow Jones industrial average skidded 200.72 points, or 2.4%, to 8339.01 after the World Bank said it expected the global economy to shrink 2.9% this year. The previous forecast called for the economy to contract 1.7%.

Hurt mainly by declines of stocks in the real estate services, metals & mining and coal industries, the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 28.19 points, or 3.1%, to 893.04. The Dow is down 5.0% this year, and the S&P 500 is off 1.1% and in its biggest slide since the March low (story, 1B).

The Nasdaq composite remains the last major U.S. stock market index in the black, by 12.0%, for 2009. The tech-heavy index fell 61.28 points, or 3.4%, to 1766.19 on Monday.

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