Wall Street Slumps On Global Growth Report

US markets have closed lower, continuing a recent run of weakness amid a dimming global economic outlook.

The Dow Jones dropped 133 points or 0.5 percent to 25,673. The S&P 500 lost 0.7 percent to 2,771, while the Nasdaq fell 0.9 percent to 7,505.

After a strong start to 2019, US stocks have generally traded flat to lower in the last two weeks amid talk the market is overbought. Sentiment was further dented by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on Wednesday cutting its global growth forecast for 2019 to 3.3 percent, from the prior 3.5 percent.

US data were mixed, with the trade deficit hitting a 10-year peak in 2018 and private-sector hiring slowing somewhat in February compared with January.

"It's perfectly normal to see the market pull back, especially after such a rally," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investment, who also cited slowing growth expectations as a headwind

Pharmaceutical names were mostly lower, with Pfizer shedding 2.4 percent, Amgen 3.0 percent and Gilead Sciences 2.3 percent.

General Electric suffered another bruising session, losing 8.0 percent a day after its chief executive signalled the company's performance would continue to be dogged in 2019 by weakness in its power business. (AFP)