US close: stocks close lower on Chinese regulations and inflation concerns

US stock plummeted on Friday as new Chinese stock-market regulations, rising inflation and fears of a Greek default spooked investors.

At close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 279.67 points at 17,826.1, while the S&P 500 lost 23.83 points to 2,081.16 and the Nasdaq declined 75.98 points to 4,931.81.

The Securities Association of China clamped down on the use shadow financing to buy equities and increased the supply of shares for short sellers. Regulators also banned the involvement of the margin trading business of brokerages in umbrella trusts and said that fund managers can lend shares for short selling.

“The China news shows there was a lot of leverage in that market and there’s a lot of leverage in ours, it shows how vulnerable the market can be when that’s the case,” said Matt Maley, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co.

An outage of Bloomberg terminals coinciding with the close of Asian markets also caused chaos among traders.

In economic data, the US consumer price index (CPI) slipped by 0.1% year-on-year in March, dragged down by lower electricity and gas prices, though it registered a 0.2% increase from the previous month. Economists had been calling for increases of 0.3% month-on-month and 0.1% year-on-year.

Figures released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the core rate of inflation, which strips out the often volatile food and energy categories, rose by 0.2%.

American Express plummeted to its lowest level since 2013 in early trading, after quarterly revenue fell short of forecasts, but the stock ended flat.

Advanced Micro Systems shares plunged after the chip-maker posted weaker revenue and a wider-fiscal loss in the first quarter.

Mattel shares were initially boosted as the toy maker revealed sales declines in its Barbie and Fisher-Price products had slowed and first quarter losses were narrower than expected, but said gains disappeared in later trading.

Oil futures were under pressure, but were on track to record a hefty weekly gains. Meanwhile, gold prices were higher as investors sought safer territory.

S&P 500 - Risers
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $26.75 +5.84%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $69.82 +4.46%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $27.14 +2.80%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $33.30 +2.71%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $57.43 +2.63%
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) $65.35 +2.62%
Hudson City Bancorp Inc. (HCBK) $9.50 +2.15%
EMC Corp. (EMC) $26.61 +2.15%
Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (HST) $20.60 +1.78%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $571.81 +1.74%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) $149.61 -5.43%
American Express Co. (AXP) $77.35 -4.40%
Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) $9.03 -4.04%
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $14.73 -3.91%
PVH Corp. (PVH) $103.74 -3.62%
Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $17.98 -3.33%
Noble Corporation plc (NE) $16.93 -3.20%
GameStop Corp. (GME) $39.66 -3.13%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $48.59 -3.11%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $65.82 -3.08%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
American Express Co. (AXP) $77.35 -4.40%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $105.40 -3.01%
3M Co. (MMM) $161.72 -2.51%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $27.92 -2.40%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $118.71 -2.38%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $115.11 -2.02%
Visa Inc. (V) $64.52 -1.72%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $77.88 -1.72%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $56.90 -1.63%
Boeing Co. (BA) $149.60 -1.56%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $26.75 +5.84%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $69.82 +4.46%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $57.43 +2.63%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $571.81 +1.74%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $99.45 +1.66%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $44.02 +1.55%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $87.00 +0.61%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $207.92 +0.49%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $28.03 +0.07%
Sigma-Aldrich Corp. (SIAL) $138.37 +0.05%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $5.67 -4.71%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $81.75 -3.55%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $125.07 -3.00%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $100.40 -2.96%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $44.45 -2.91%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $60.70 -2.80%
Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $121.85 -2.78%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $375.52 -2.73%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $73.16 -2.65%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $69.13 -2.51%