AlHijjah 4, 1433, Oct 20, 2012, SPA -- U.S. stocks closed sharply down Friday, as all three indexes dropped nearly 2 percent, marking the worst day on Wall Street since June. In U.S. news, the National Association of Realtors reported that September's existing home sales came in at an annual rate of 4.75 million, which was down from the 4.83 million pace the previous month but up 11 percent from the rate of sales a year ago. In international news, European Union leaders in Brussels agreed late Thursday to establish a eurozone-wide banking supervisor in 2013 designed to help prevent future catastrophic bank failures that could threaten the monetary union. In company news, both McDonald's and General Electronic (GE) reported earnings that fell short of forecasts. Honeywell posted third-quarter profits that beat analysts' forecasts, but its revenue disappointed. The company's stock closed up almost 2 percent. Sandisk shares rose 3 percent, following quarterly results late Thursday that bested expectations. The dollar gained against the euro and the yen, but slipped versus the pound. Light sweet crude oil for November delivery lost $2.05 to $90.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell $20.70 to $1,724.00 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 205.43, or 1.52 percent, to 13,343.51. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 24.15, or 1.66 percent, to 1,433.19. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 67.25, or 2.19 percent, to 3,005.62.
