Dow Falls 128 Points on Global Fears

The stock market fell again on Wednesday as fears about global growth took down share prices for the second day. Concerns about slowing economic activity throughout Asia, and particularly in China, along with some anxiety about the beginning of the third-quarter earnings season helped to drag down the major averages.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell a little more than 128 points to close at 13,345. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 13,327 and 13,478.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) lost 0.64 percent to close at $143.28. Volume was light again with around 108 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 122 million.

The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, lost 0.50 percent to $66.92. Year-to-date, however, the QQQ has logged a very strong gain of nearly 20 percent.

Crude oil also fell on the day. NYMEX crude contracts shed 1.15 percent to $91.33 while Brent crude futures lost 0.16 percent to $114.32. The United States Oil Fund ETF (NYSE:USO) lost 0.99 percent to close at $33.84.

Gold was essentially unchanged on the day while silver recorded a small gain. COMEX Gold futures lost 0.02 percent to $1,764.70. Silver futures added 0.21 percent to $34.055. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE:GLD) declined 0.09 percent to $170.84.

Risk aversion led investors to pile more money into Treasuries. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:TLT) rose 0.71 percent to $122.81. The yield on the 10-Year Note fell 3.1 basis points to 1.68 percent.

The U.S. dollar was slightly lower on Wednesday. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (NYSE:UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, fell 0.23 percent to $21.90. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading up 0.16 percent to $12897.