Wall Street's major indexes all slid more than 2 percent on Monday, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing at its lowest in 14 months, on concerns about slowing economic growth ahead of a highly anticipated decision from the Federal Reserve this week on the course of U.S. interest-rate hikes.
The S&P 500 hit its lowest since October 2017 to breach lows reached during its sell-off in February, having wiped out about USD 3.4 trillion of market value since late September. The small-cap Russell 2000 index confirmed a bear market, having fallen more than 20 percent from its Aug. 31 closing high.
A profit warning from British retailer ASOS raised concerns about weakening consumer strength, despite robust US retail sales data on Friday. The National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index indicated homebuilder sentiment had fallen to a three-and-a-half-year low.
The S&P 500 briefly erased its losses in late-morning trade, but the index resumed its steep decline after Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive of DoubleLine Capital, said that US stocks were in a bear market.
Nearly 2,000 stocks on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq hit 52-week lows, the most in nearly three years. Only 40 reached new highs.
Concerns about flagging consumer sentiment pushed down S&P 500 consumer discretionary stocks , which tumbled 2.8 percent. Shares of Amazon.com Inc dropped 4.5 percent, creating the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Retail stocks declined overall, with the S&P 500 Retailing Index falling 3.4 percent.
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