Libyan unrest down stocks for the second consecutive trading day

 Housing market data released the day flat, there is no support to the stock form. According to the American Association of Realtors reported that U.S. existing home sales in January rose 2.7%, while analysts had expected a small decline in this data. At the same time, the report also showed that the average price of U.S. existing home sales dropped nearly 9 years, the lowest level since it shows once again that the U.S. housing market recovery is still very weak.

panic measure the extent of stock market investors, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) rose to the day of the highest level since November, two days has risen more than 40%.


individual stocks, Hewlett-Packard's stock plummeted nearly 10% of the day, mainly because the company released results after the close of the previous trading day notice to investors disappointed. And because of Apple's forthcoming Annual General Meeting by the market's attention, its chief executive Steve Jobs's health problems became a focus of attention.

as Libya continues to be pressure and other factors of tension, 23 New York stock market fell for a second day, as of the close, the Dow Jones index fell more than 100 points, while the three indexes of the cumulative decline for two consecutive days for the past six months, the highest since.

In addition, as investors worried about the Middle East's oil supply will have problems, the international oil prices rose following the previous day, after another day up nearly 3%, and 100 U.S. dollars a barrel in intraday trading, the first time since 2008.

(This article Source: Xinhua on: cattle Hoi Wing)
after previous session's slump, the New York Stock Exchange that day continue to be pressure from outside. Libya did not improve the situation so that investors fear that other oil producing countries will be affected, resulting in a strong market risk aversion.

to the New York stock markets closed, the Dow Jones 30 Industrial Average index over the previous trading day down 107.01 points to close at 12,105.78 points, down 0.88%. Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 8.04 points to close at 1307.40 points, down 0.61%. The Nasdaq composite index fell 33.43 points to close at 2722.99 points, down 1.21%.