US stocks plunge after bleak Chinese manufacturing report

NEW YORK (AP) – Markets are turning turbulent again after investors were unnerved by more signs of weakness in China, the world’s second-largest economy.

U.S. stocks sank 3 percent Tuesday, their third-worst drop this year. The two worse declines occurred in the last two weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 469 points, or 2.8 percent, to 16,058.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 58 points, or 3 percent, to 1,913. The Nasdaq slid 140 points, or 2.9 percent, to 4,636.

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Oil prices also fell sharply as traders worried that China’s weakening growth would mean lower demand for crude. U.S. oil sank almost 8 percent.

The plunge in oil sent energy stocks sharply lower. Exxon Mobil dropped 4 percent.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.16 percent.