Wall Street stock prices slid on Wednesday, dragged down by economic reports portraying US factory growth as tepid and China in its worst manufacturing contraction since the global financial crisis.

The data aggravated investor anxieties that global economic growth might be sputtering, sapped a rally in European equities and gave Asian stock markets their worst day in months.

The S&P 500 is down 2.8 per cent since Thursday, when the Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates near zero.

Factory data

Data showed US manufacturing growth stayed at a two-year low in September, while Chinese factory activity shrank to a 6-1/2 year low in the month, underscoring worries about demand.

Boeing Co said it had won orders and commitments from China for aircraft valued at about $38 billion at list prices. But its shares fell 1.7 per cent to $131.67.

The S&P materials index, down 2.1 per cent, led the decline for the S&P 500 for a second day, followed by the energy index, which was down 1.4 per cent.

US crude oil futures ended down 4.1 per cent, while the shares of Chevron were down 1.5 per cent at $76.12.

"The market looks tired and flat, and there is some hesitation to commit with earnings coming out in two weeks and worries about China and the impact on companies that do a lot of business overseas," said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Company in Atlanta.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 50.58 points or 0.31 per cent to 16,279.89, the S&P 500 lost 3.98 points or 0.2 per cent to 1,938.76 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.98 points or 0.08 per cent to 4,752.74.

Worries over a China-led global economic slowdown and uncertainty over when the Fed may raise rates have left investors skittish.

S&P 500 earnings are projected to decline 3.9 per cent in the third quarter from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Volume was light due to the Yom Kippur holiday. About 5.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the roughly 8 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

First Niagara Financial was up 14.5 per cent at $10.26 after Bloomberg reported the regional bank was exploring a sale.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,784 to 1,242, for a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,609 issues fell and 1,185 advanced for a 1.36-to-1 ratio favouring decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week high and 38 lows; the Nasdaq recorded 24 new highs and 135 lows.

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