Stocks drop sharply at open

The Boston Globe reports:

U.S. stocks tumbled, following a renewed selloff across stocks worldwide as skepticism about the strength of the global economy intensified.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 300 points shortly before 10.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 1.1 percent to 1,861.43 at 9:32 a.m. in New York, putting it on track for its lowest level since April 2014.

“What the market is focused on is Chinese hard-landing fear, oil prices and the strength in the dollar,” said Phil Orlando, who helps oversee $360 billion as chief equity-market strategist at Federated Investors Inc. in New York. “We haven’t hit bottom yet. That’s when we start talking about the need to retest the summer lows and holding at that level to take us to long-term support.”

Gulp.