US STOCKS-Wall St falls as emerging-market currencies sell off ByChuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday, in the wake of a selloff in emerging market assets, hurt by growth concerns in China and as expectations grew that the Federal Reserve will trim its market-friendly stimulus measures further.
With many market participants expecting the Fed next week to shave its stimulus by another $10 billion a month, investors will look to less risky assets such as U.S. bonds, expecting interest rates will begin to rise. The Fed's policymakers will conclude a two-day meeting on Wednesday.
A rout in emerging market assets spread to developed countries in Europe on worries over Fed policy, slowing growth in China and political problems in Turkey, Argentina and Ukraine.
Worries over China's growth emerged after a disappointing manufacturing number spurred the S&P 500 to a 0.9 percent fall on Thursday.
The Turkish lira hit a fresh record low and the South African rand a new five-year low against the dollar.
U.S.-listed shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.(BBVA) slumped 5.3 percent to $12.01 a day after the country's peso currency suffered its steepest daily decline in 12 years, prompting Argentina's government to loosen strict foreign exchange controls.
"It's just the final realization that they can't continue to grow as an economy the same way they did before," saidAndres Garcia-Amaya, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds, in New York.
"It's a combination of less liquidity for these countries that depended on foreign money, and China kind of throwing some curveballs as well."
Benchmark 10-year Treasuries notes were up 11/32 in price with a yield of 2.735 percent.
Argentina's government said Friday it would loosen strict foreign exchange controls, after it abandoned its long-standing policy of intervening to support the peso currency. That resulted in the currency's steepest plunge since the 2002 financial crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 124.39 points or 0.77 percent, to 16,072.96, the S&P 500 lost 15.26 points or 0.83 percent, to 1,813.2 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 38.212 points or 0.91 percent, to 4,180.663.
The S&P 500 is down 1.3 percent for the week. The benchmark index fell below its 50-day moving average for the first time since Dec. 18, a technical support level that could indicate more selling pressure if convincingly pierced.