Today's performance of the Dow Jones industrial average capped off the worst yearly performance in 34 years as the 679 point drop brings the total since last October 9 to a 5,585 point loss, or 39.4 percent. Last year on the same day the Dow stood at 14,164.53 at the end of the session. Today's drop was over 7 percent, finishing at 8,579.19.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index didn't fare any better as it also dropped by over 7 percent for the day, finishing the session down by 75.02, falling to 909.92.
Investor's nerves continue to be on edge as every negative announcement causes huge selloffs in the market. Today the main impetus was the announcement by a credit--rating agency that Ford and General Motors may have their ratings cut, which would tighten credit for them even more.
The Dow isn't making the type of history it would wish, as the decline of 2,371 points for the last seven sessions is the worst drop for that time period in history. Percentage-wise, the fall of 20.9 percent is the worst since the seven days ending on October 26, 1987, where the fall was 23.8 percent of the Dow. That seven-day period included the infamous Black Monday of October 19, 1987, where the Dow plunged by 23 percent in one day.
Also falling significantly, but not as much as the other major indices were the Nasdaq composite index, which dropped to 1,645.12; a 5.5 percent, or 95.21 decline. For the Russell 2000 index, it performed the worst according to percentages, as it fell by 8.7 percent to 499.20, a 47.37 drop.
The major refuges for investors has been short-term Treasurys, where most people are just looking to preserve their capital. Gold, as usual in times like these, has started an upward move as the economic news gets grimmer. It did go as high as $925 tonight, although after hours at about 10 p.m. EST it has fallen back to almost $914 an ounce.
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