Wall Street sinks along with falling crude prices

(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)Wall Street fell on Tuesday as oil prices retreated to fresh lows. At 3:31 p.m. in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) fell 1% to 17560.84. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) skidded 0.7% to 2062.31 while the Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) inched down 0.1% to 5097.20. The U.S. crude benchmark fell 0.4% to $37.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent settled down 1.2% at $40.26 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. Oil fell on expectations that U.S. crude inventories rose for an 11th straight week last week. LUNCHTIME TRADING US shares along with other European indices sank at the open as traders continue to worry about global growth. The Dow Jones sank 139 points to 17592 while the S&P500 lost 12 to stand at 2065. The tech heavy Nasdaq shed 17 points to go to 5085 as stock markets around the world seem to lack festive cheer. In London FTSE100 lost 82 points to stand at 6142 Earlier data from powerhouse China showed another month of weakening trade The value of exports from China fell 3.7% last month -  the 13th consecutive monthly decline new figures showed. Commodity stocks were again in focus and on the decline. Joshua Mahony at IG Index said: "Today's decision from Anglo American to scrap its dividend is likely to be the beginning of a worrying trend for the miners. "The attractiveness of owning oil or mining shares has been questionable of late and with the prospect of dividends also being scrapped the sector is fast running out of reasons to invest. " MARKET PRE-OPEN Wall Street shares are poised to continue lower on Tuesday as commodity stocks continue to weigh along with fears on global growth. Also in focus is next week's Federal Reserve meeting where investors are eying the first US interest rate rise for several years Markets are gloomy today after an economic report from China showed imports and exports continued to fall last month. The value of exports from China fell 3.7% last month -  the 13th consecutive monthly decline. The bench mark Dow Jones closed out the start of the week down 117 points at 17730 while the Nasdaq lost 40 to 5101 and the broader based S&P500 fell 14 to 2077. Today the Dow futures are down 79 while Nasdaq futures are also trailing 22 points and the S&P500 is down around ten. Brent crude has also now hit a seven-year low as traders weigh up the OPEC non-decision fully. Brent crude lost almost 4% to stand at US$41.34  a barrel. One stock reporting today is famous gunmaker Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ: SWHC) albeit after the close. The firm is being closely followed and shares have rocketed this year partly as investors expect sales will increase as people worry about a tightening of gun laws.