Stocks Fall After Selling Deluge in Germany; Gold, Dollar Rise

By Sarah Jones, Alexis Xydias and Rita Nazareth

August 25, 2011 at 9:09 PM UTC

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Stocks dropped worldwide, snapping a three-day rally for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, after the U.S. said jobless claims increased and traders sold German equity futures before France, Italy and Spain extended curbs on short selling. Gold, the dollar and Treasuries rallied.

The S&P 500 fell 1.6 percent to 1,159.27 at 4 p.m. in New York, after climbing 4.8 percent over the past three days. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 1.2 percent. Germany’s DAX Index ended the day with a 1.7 percent slump, recovering from a 15-minute plunge of 4 percent. Gold added 0.3 percent, halting its biggest decline since 2008. The Dollar Index jumped 0.3 percent. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes lost seven basis points before Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke begins a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at 10 a.m. New York time.