The New York Stock Exchange suffered heavy losses on Friday in the wake of worrying economic indicators and disappointing corporate results, which exacerbated investors' growing concerns about the health of American growth.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones dropped 2.3% to 39,421.2 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.3% to 16,663.6 points.421.2 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell by 3.3% to 16,663.6 points.

Over the week as a whole, the Dow lost around 2.5%, while the Nasdaq fell by a more substantial 3.7%.

Wall Street had been generally bearish for the past two weeks, with the various economic indicators and corporate results giving investors little cause for optimism.

Even the accommodative stance adopted on Wednesday by the US Federal Reserve was not enough to reassure investors.

Things took an even more worrying turn today, as illustrated by the surge in the CBOE's VIX index - often dubbed the 'barometer of fear' - which climbed 51% to 28.1.

On the statistical front, the US economy generated just 114,000 non-farm jobs in July.000 non-farm jobs in July, according to the Labor Department, well below market expectations of 170,000.

In a reaction note, Bastien Drut, head of strategy and economic research at CPR AM, describes the report as "very mediocre", while Commerzbank analysts are beginning to view the US labor market as "worrying".

These concerns were reinforced a little later by the announcement of an unexpected 3.3% drop in industrial orders in June - their second fall in a row - whereas economists were forecasting a rebound of around 0.5%.

In view of the unexpected multiplication of these signs of economic slowdown, the probability of a 50 basis point rate cut in September has been revised upwards, to 73.5% according to CME's FedWatch tool.

The trend is also weighed down by the earnings releases of the major technology groups, which are no longer able to play their role as catalysts as usual.

On the Dow, Intel sank 29% after announcing lacklustre results, delivering cautious forecasts, cutting its dividend, launching job cuts and reducing its spending.

Amazon was also penalized, albeit less heavily (-10%), following a weaker-than-expected quarterly publication, particularly in its e-commerce activities.

Apple, the world's largest capitalization, managed to escape the prevailing gloom, nibbling 2% after last night's better-than-expected quarterly performance and encouraging outlook, although not enough to enthuse the market.

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