Bank stocks led a sharp decline in early trading on Wall Street on Thursday.
JPMorgan Chase dropped after The New York Times reported that its trading loss could be $9 billion, much larger than the bank has acknowledged.
Dow plunges
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 162 points to 12,464 in the first hour of trading.
The early slump of 1.3 per cent wiped out the Dow’s gain for the week.
Investors were also punishing bank stocks because British regulators escalated their inquiry into the manipulation of a key interest rate. Citigroup, Britain’s HSBC, Switzerland’s UBS and the Royal Bank of Scotland were also named by British regulators in the probe.
