US STOCKS-Egypt riots spark biggest drop in nearly 6 months

NEW YORK: Stocks suffered their biggest one-day loss in nearly six months on Friday, Jan 28 as anti-government rioting in Egypt prompted investors to flee to less risky assets to ride out the turmoil.

Increased instability in the Middle East drove up the CBOE Volatility Index, the stock market's fear gauge, as investors scrambled for protective positions.
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Developments in the Middle East could be a trigger for investors to sell at a time when many expected a correction after a market rally of about 18 percent since September.


"I think the next two to three weeks, the crisis in Egypt and potentially across the Middle East, might be an excuse for a big selloff of 5 to 10 percent," said Keith Wirtz, president and chief investment officer at Fifth Third Asset Management in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Nasdaq quotations for its main stock indexes suffered an outage of nearly one hour at the open, causing confusion among traders. Nasdaq OMX Group blamed a glitch with its global index data service.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 166.13 points, or 1.39 percent, at 11,823.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 23.20 points, or 1.79 percent, at 1,276.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 68.39 points, or 2.48 percent, at 2,686.89. For the week, the Dow fell 0.4 percent, the S&P lost 0.5 percent and the Nasdaq dipped 0.1 percent.

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