Stock markets fall to close worst trading week since 2008 crisis

North American stock markets closed lower Friday to cap the worst trading week since the global financial crisis.

After starting the day stronger, markets dropped to end the week down by double digits compared to last week.

Other than last week’s strong push at closing on U.S. President Donald Trump’s promise of a massive stimulus program, markets have been down every Friday of the year, said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer of Purpose Investments.

“That’s just more of a sense of nervousness that investors are saying: ‘Well, I don’t really want to be long everything over the weekend in case things get more worse,”’ he said.

The S&P/TSX composite closed down 318.71 points, or 2.6 per cent, to 11,851.81. The market lost 1,865 points or 13.6 per cent in one week and is down 34 per cent off the record high set last month.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 913.21 points, or 4.5 per cent, at 19,173.98 to a level that wiped out all the gains since Trump took office. The S&P 500 index was down 104.47 points at 2,304.92, while the Nasdaq composite was down 271.06 points at 6,879.52.

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