(Adds Wall Street closing, ending prices and oil details)
* China factories at worst pace since global financial
crisis
* Volkswagen (XETRA:VOWG) shares rebound
* Oil off as much as 4 percent
* Platinum sinks to lowest since 2009
By Michael Connor
NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Wall Street stock prices slid
on Wednesday, dragged down by economic reports portraying U.S.
factory growth as tepid and China in its worst manufacturing
contraction since the global financial crisis.
The data aggravated investor anxieties that global economic
growth might be sputtering, sapped a rally in European equities
and gave Asian stock markets their worst day in months.
Prices of U.S. Treasuries eased, while oil prices declined as
much as 4 percent after giving up early gains.
The economic reports, showing U.S. manufacturing growth
stayed at a two-year low in September and Chinese factory
activity shrinking to a 6-1/2 year low, spurred a selloff in U.S
material and industrial stocks. ID:nN9N0ZQ02J ID:nL4N11R3E2
The S&P materials index .SPLRCM was down 2.1 percent. The
industrial sector .SPLRCI fell 0.7 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 50.58 points,
or 0.31 percent, to 16,279.89, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 3.98
points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,938.76 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 3.98 points, or 0.08 percent, to 4,752.74.
Europe's FTSEuroFirst index of leading 300 European shares
.FTEU3 had rallied on regional manufacturing reports but ended
flat with a rise of 0.07 percent.
Shares in Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE rose 5.2 percent to 111.50
euros. It had lost about a third of its value in the previous
two sessions after the German carmaker got caught up in a
scandal that Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBKGn) called an "investor's nightmare,"
which led to the resignation of CEO Martin Winterkorn on
Wednesday.
The United States has accused Volkswagen of rigging its cars
to conceal their emissions when the engines were tested.
ID:nL5N11T2K4
Asian equity markets tumbled after the Chinese purchasing
managers index intensified fears that a slowdown in the world's
second-largest economy will spread more widely.
Asian stocks posted their biggest single-day fall since Aug.
24, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS down 2.4 percent.
Treasuries prices fell along with German Bunds. The
benchmark 10-year Treasury US10YT=RR last yielded 2.162
percent, reflecting a decline in price of 10/32. ID:nL1N11T108
Yields on benchmark German bonds also rose as much as 3
basis points. EU2YT=RR EU10YT=RR
Positive reaction in Europe to regional PMIs helped the euro
rise 0.60 percent to $1.1180 EUR= . The dollar was up 0.10
percent against the yen at 120.25 yen JPY= .
Oil prices pivoted from early gains and were down as much as
4 percent. Brent crude oil prices, which had been inching toward
$50 per barrel, settled off $1.33, or 2.7 percent, at $47.75 a
barrel. LCOc1 ID:nL4N11T1E9
Platinum XPT= slid on fears about reduced demand from the
auto sector, where it is used in diesel catalysts to clean up
exhaust emissions. It fell to its lowest since January 2009 at
$925.30 an ounce, before recouping some losses.
The metal has been hurt by news of Volkswagen's
falsification of U.S. vehicle emission tests as investors
believed it could affect demand for diesel cars. ID:nL1N11S21N