NEW YORK (AA) -- Wall Street closed sharply lower Friday to end its worst day since last August after U.K. voters’ decision to leave the EU fueled massive market sell-offs.
The Dow was down 611 points, or 3.4 percent, to end the day at 17,399. The S&P 500 lost 76 points, or 3.6 percent, to close at 2,037, and the Nasdaq was down 202 points, or 4.1 percent, to end at 4,707.
The Dow and S&P 500 each lost 1.6 percent for the week, while the Nasdaq sank 1.9 percent.
Friday was the single worst day performance for the indexes since Aug. 24, 2015, when a Chinese economic slowdown and an 8.5 percent decline in the Shanghai Composite Index placed global financial markets in turmoil.
As the Chinese downturn caused ripples on Wall Street, the Brexit had global repercussions on financial markets and crude oil prices that lost 5 percent with a stronger dollar.
At the final bell, the American benchmark traded 5 percent lower at $47.62 a barrel, and international benchmark Brent crude was at $48.42 -- a 4.9 percent loss.
Stock values of U.S.-based multinational investment banks that operate in the U.K. also posted massive losses with the Brexit.
Citigroup saw its shares plunge 9.4 percent, while Morgan Stanley lost about 10 percent. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase each had their stock values decline around 7 percent by the closing bell.