Sharp fall in US manufacturing index hurts investors' sentiments

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 600 points on Thursday as the biggest drop in more than a decade in the ISM U.S. manufacturing index added to nerves over slowing global growth sparked by a revenue warning from Apple.

At 10:38 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 631.40 points, or 2.70 per cent, at 22,714.84, the S&P 500 was down 57.58 points, or 2.29 per cent, at 2,452.45 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 178.66 points, or 2.68 per cent, at 6,487.28.