Stock Market Concerns Cast Wide Net

That’s how many of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell Monday, just one of many signs the day’s stock market selloff was felt across the board.

As concerns about the stability of China’s real estate market and a brewing funding battle in the U.S. government caught fire, every major sector of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined and 95 of the 100 companies listed on the Nasdaq 100 Index dropped. The Dow dropped as much as 972 points and closed at 33,970.47, down 614.41 points, or 1.8%, for the worst day since July. The S&P fell 1.7% and the Nasdaq 2.2%, the largest one-day drops for both since May.

Investors were already wary that the delta variant of the coronavirus could hurt the economy, but battles in Washington over a vast spending bill proposed by Democrats and raising the government’s debt limit (to avoid a government shutdown) are compounding concerns, analysts said. Another concern is that the financial issues of a Chinese land developer, Evergrande, are so large that they could not only harm the Chinese economy, but economies elsewhere. The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a bulletin Monday focused on the risks of investing in certain companies that are exposed to China-based businesses.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki addressed the China concern during her press briefing Monday.

“We always are monitoring global markets, obviously from the Department of Treasury primarily, including the assessment of any risk to the U.S. economy, and stand prepared to respond appropriately if needed,” Psaki said.