US Close 24 Dec 18: US stocks retreat as political concerns mount

* US sharemarkets fell by up to 3% on Friday. The falls came despite comments from US Federal Reserve president John Williams who said the Fed was "ready to re-assess and re-evaluate our views and...policy stance." At the close of trade, the Dow Jones was down by 414 points or 1.8% after being up 395 points early in the session. The S&P500 index was down by 2.1%. The Nasdaq index lost 195 points or 3.0%. Over the week the Dow lost 6.9%, the S&P 500 fell by 7.1% and the Nasdaq fell by 8.4%

 

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