NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks fell 1 percent on Friday, extending earlier losses as a downgrade by Fitch Ratings of Spain’s credit rating reignited worries about euro-zone debt issues.
Fitch cut Spain’s credit rating by one notch, saying the country’s economic recovery will be more muted than the government forecast due to its austerity measures.
U.S.-listed shares of Spain’s Banco Santander SA (SAN.MC)(STD.N) fell 2.5 percent to $10.17.
“It definitely spooked the market, no doubt about it,” said Terry Morris, senior equity manager for National Penn Investors Trust Company in Reading, Pennsylvania.
“Up until now it’s been mostly Greece and the threat of Spain and Portugal and Ireland. With Fitch actually downgrading Spain, it seems as if it is no longer a hypothetical, the contagion is now real.”
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 141.25 points, or 1.38 percent, to 10,117.74.
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