US close: Blue Monday as investors rush to safe havens

The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.82% overall, closing at 4,283.75. It was down even further earlier in the session amid fears of a collapse in the 'FANG' stocks - Facebook fell by 4.15%, Amazon by 2.79%, Netflix reversed losses to close up 0.64% and Google parent Alphabet was up by 0.06% by the closing bell.

Twitter closed down 5.33%, though the embattled social network's stocks earlier slipped 5.9% to hit an all-time low.

Losses in the material sector led to the S&P 500 tumbling 1.42% to close at 1,853.44, paring back earlier losses. It hit 1,844 late in the session, though that was still above its intraday low of 1,812.29 reached on January 20.

There were concerns that, if the index reached that low level, it "could indicate if we are really heading into a big bear market or nearing the end of a big correction within a bull market", according to CMC Markets chief market strategist Colin Cieszynski.

In the energy sector, Williams Companies closed down 34.8% and Chesapeake Energy 33%. Oil prices slid again, with Brent crude down 3.46% to $33.92 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate down 2.8% to $30.04.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average clawed back from earlier losses to close down 1.1% to 16,027.05. The slump in stocks led a rush to the presumed safe havens - gold prices saw their largest one-day rise in more than a year, and Treasury yields slipped to a 12 month low. The Treasury yields move inversely to prices.

The Federal Reserve's Labor Market Conditions Index Change index for January retreated from 2.9 points in December to 0.4.

It was a blue Monday for the dollar as well, with the greenback tumbling to its weakest level against the yen since late 2014 as many Americans clambered to the yen as another safe haven.

It traded as low as JPY 115.20 per USD during the day. The dollar also weakened against the euro, which traded at $1.1171, while the pound slipped to $1.4407.

S&P 500 - Risers

Nordstrom Inc. $50.85 +5.54%
Tyson Foods Inc. $60.16 +5.36%
Concocphillips $34.43 +4.65%
Gamestop Corp. $27.89 +3.95%
Chevron Corp. $85.99 +3.75%
Newmont Mining Corp. $25.19 +3.20%
Hormel Foods Corp. $81.40 +3.12%
Hershey Foods Corp. $90.01 +2.63%
Hess Corp. $38.99 +2.55%
Newfield Exploration Co $25.47 +2.37%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Williams Companies Inc. $11.16 -34.81%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. $2.04 -33.33%
Genworth Financial Inc. $1.87 -14.68%
Oneok Inc. $23.16 -9.32%
Western Digital Corp. $41.91 -8.61%
Frontier Communications Co. $4.32 -7.8%
Peabody Energy Corp. $3.92 -7.78%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. $54.05 -7.67%
Salesforce.com Inc. $54.05 -7.62%
Marathon Oil Corp. $7.82 -7.57%