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Markets slide again; oil drops below $30 per barrel

Posted at 4:36 PM, Jan 15, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-15 16:36:53-05

(AP) – U.S. stocks plunged again, completing the worst two-week start to a year ever.

The market was rattled Friday by yet another tumble in the price of oil that slammed energy companies and on a government report showing a dip in retail sales.

The price of oil sank below $30 Friday a barrel and is trading at the lowest level since 2003.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 390 points, or 2.4 percent, to close at 15,988. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 44 points, or 2.3 percent, to 1,876. The Nasdaq fell 126 points, or 2.7 percent, to 4,488.

The Dow and the S&P 500 are both down 8.2 percent since the beginning of the year. The Nasdaq is down 10.4 percent.