American equity markets fell off a cliff in Thursday trading as a number of factors–ranging from worries over Spain to unrest in the Arabian peninsula–sent stocks reeling. The Dow was down by over 228 points while similarly brutal losses were had in the more broad indexes. The S&P 500 declined by 1.9% while the Nasdaq slipped by 1.8% to cap off one of the worst days in the market since late August. Commodity markets also suffered, as all the major resource sectors sank on the day. Among the worst losses were in the soft commodity market as coffee (down 4.9%) and sugar (down 5.6%) led the way lower. Given this backdrop, many investors shouldn’t be surprised to read that one of the few winners on the day was the U.S. dollar and the Treasury market, as traders fled to safe havens in order to ride out the storm. One of [...] Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com. Related Posts: Daily ETF Roundup: XLE Plunges, VXX Soars Daily ETF Roundup: VXX In Freefall, XLE Rises Checking In On Ten Major ETF Launches From 2009 Daily ETF Roundup: VXX Sinks On Market Optimism, XHB Surges On Pulte Report Daily ETF Roundup: XLF Tumbles, VXX Surges On Libyan Violence