Reuters: US Dollar Report: GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, oil fall on growth worries; dollar gains

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GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, oil fall on growth worries; dollar gains Mar 22nd 2012, 14:13 Tweet Share this Email Print Thu Mar 22, 2012 10:13am EDT NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - Oil prices plunged more than 2 percent and global stocks retreated from recent highs o n Th ursday as disappointing manufacturing data from China and Europe fueled global growth concerns. U.S. Treasuries prices and the dollar rose as investors became more averse to risk, although the safety bid was tempered by fresh evidence that the U.S. labor market continues to strengthen. In China, however, the manufacturing sector contracted for a fifth month in March, according to the HSBC flash purchasing managers index. Germany and France also reported an unexpected contraction in manufacturing activity while Britain added to the gloom with a steeper-than-forecast fall in retail sales. "When you get numbers like these out of the euro zone it definitely puts the growth outlook into question and points to a mild recession," said Niels Christensen, currency strategist at Nordea in Copenhagen. Key Wall Street indexes opened lower. About 30 minutes into the trading session, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 49.68 points, or 0.38 percent, to 13,074.94. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 7.43 points, or 0.53 percent, at 1,395.46, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 9.65 points, or 0.31 percent, to 3,065.67. World stocks measured by the MSCI All-Country World Index dropped 0.6 percent. Earlier in the week, the index had closed near levels last seen in late July. In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.9 percent. The dollar rose 0.25 percent against a basket of major trading-partner currencies, according to the U.S. Dollar Index . The euro weakened 0.36 percent against the greenback, to $1.3162. U.S. crude oil prices dropped to a session low of $104.87 a barrel, down $2.40, or 2.24 percent. Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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