The market was weighed by sharp moves in large index constituent Fast Retailing Co.
Early safe-haven buying gave way to heavy selling pressure that was due to strong gains in the U.S. dollar index, sharp losses in crude oil and other commodity markets, profit-taking pressure and weak-handed long liquidation.
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The sharp decline in the NAPM index in December gave an early indication of the slowdown, and was one of the factors that led the Fed to make its first rate cut in early January.
The expansion looks set to continue, according to this week's purchasing managers' services index, which recorded a sharp increase in business activity in January.
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"Some good news also was the sharp decline in the August import price index, " Stone said of the 3.7% drop, well ahead of Wall Street's 1.8% expectation.
Germany's Ifo business-climate index recovered in November from its sharp fall of the previous month.
That shows up clearly in the sharp decline in the CPI "core" index, which excludes food and energy, from 3.3% to 2.8%.
The gold market held its own Thursday despite a sharp rise in the U.S. dollar index.
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The Hang Seng share index duly reversed the previous fortnight's sharp falls and rose 8.5% on the day.
The index is set to replace the Dow average on April 8 as the index whose action will be monitored for the sharp swings that trigger "circuit breakers" halting all U.S. stock trading.
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Recent bad news included a sharp fall in the National Association of Purchasing Management's index of manufacturing activity in December: it hit its lowest level since April 1991.
The forward-looking indicator for general business conditions experienced a sharp fall as well, dropping to 22.45 on the index from 52.69 from May, driven by a larger number of manufacturers that now expect business conditions to worsen.
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Consumer confidence saw a sharp ten-point improvement from last month, and the ISM Manufacturing Index was strong on Friday.
The sharp differences in fees highlight the need for investors to be vigilant about whether their index fund is actually a good deal, especially if they use an adviser who gets a commission from picking an expensive fund.
True, the U.S. got a jolt in late October when a sharp fall in the Hong Kong stock market sparked a big plunge in the Dow Jones index.
Gold and silver both got buying support as the trading session wore on, due to the U.S. dollar index backing way off its daily high and by crude oil prices posted a sharp rally after trading lower early on.
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There was more downbeat news for the economy Thursday in the shape of a bigger than forecast decline in the April reading of the PMI services index, which fell to 54.3 from 57.1 consistent with sharp drops in construction and manufacturing detailed earlier this week.
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The iShares MSCI Singapore Index ( EWS) was up 0.7% last week, which is in sharp contrast to the 3.9% drop in SPY.
The index was predicted to ease by less than two points from 5.3 in July, but in the event a sharp downturn in the expectations gauge between both private and institutional investors caused a dramatic slump in the index to negative 13.5 and the lowest reading since September 2009.
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