Business News
US stocks plummet further; Dow below 9,000 points (Roundup)
Oct 9, 2008, 22:22 GMT
US stocks plummeted again on Thursday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped below 9,000 points for the first time in five years, as a series of US and global efforts to tackle the financial crisis have failed to calm investors. EPA/JUSTIN LANE
New York - US stocks plummeted again on Thursday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped below 9,000 points for the first time in five years, as a series of US and global efforts to tackle the financial crisis have failed to calm investors.
Both the blue-chip Dow and broader Standard & Poor's 500 tumbled more than 7 per cent. The Dow has now lost more than 35 per cent of its value since reaching all-time highs above 14,000 one year ago. The S&P's seven straight days of losses mark the longest downward streak since 1996.
The plunges came as the US Treasury indicated it would buy up shares in banks to help inject capital into shaky financial institutions. On Wednesday, a joint rate cut by seven of the world's central banks failed to spark a market rally.
US officials have also continued warning that a 700-billion-dollar rescue package would take some time to have an impact on the massive credit crunch that has struck the US economy.
'It took us a while to get here and it's going to take us a while to get out of this thing,' White House economic advisor Edward Lazear told broadcaster CNN.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations meet Friday to consider additional responses to the financial crisis. There were indications that a summit of world leaders from the Group of Eight, which includes Russia, could take place next week.
The Dow plunged 678.91 points, or 7.33 per cent, to 8,579.19. The broad-based Standard and Poor's 500 tumbled 75.02 points, or 7.62 per cent, to 909.92. The high-tech Nasdaq Composite index shed 95.21 points, or 5.47 per cent, to 1,645.12.
The bulk of the day's decline was in the final hour of trading, a pattern that has been repeated often during the crisis.
'People have lost faith in everything,' Philip Orlando, the chief market strategist of Federated Investors Inc, told Bloomberg News. 'We're dealing with an investment community of atheists right now. Valuations no longer matter.'
Car manufacturers led the sell off after market researcher JD Power & Associates forecast a sharp decline in car sales this year and next. General Motors Corp fell 31 per cent to its lowest level since 1950.
Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp tumbled by the most in 21 years after the price of crude oil fell below 85 dollars per barrel in New York.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss- Kahn warned Thursday that the world was on the 'cusp' of a recession as the crisis has spread well beyond the US.
The IMF on Wednesday cut its global growth forecast to 3.9 per cent this year and 3 per cent last year. Growth of below 3 per cent is rated by the IMF as a recession.
The dollar rose against the Japanese currency to 99.62 yen from 99.20 yen on Wednesday. The dollar also rose against the euro to 73.54 euro cents from 73.33 euro cents on Wednesday.
COMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
along time ago that America is all but history.
this is the plan that was made between Bush and bin laden.
Did the IMF actually state that? If so, I just have GOT to see this with my own eyes!
The blood of the innocent people will bring destruction to those who spill it for no good reason.
Gee, a lot of insanity on this thread.
There is a lot of insanity in the US. It starts with the Republicans and spreads to the general populace. It is an incurable disease, unless you amputate the source.
Yes! In case you don't know ,this is WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY.
lol.
World Mental Health Day 2008 ... World Mental Health Day started in 1992 and is officially commemorated every year on October 10th.
www.rethink.org/get_involved/events/world_mental_health.html
The ballooning US national debt has now broken through the $10 trillion mark to reach $10,249.934,738,875.80 the time of typing. President Bush must be very proud.Perhaps understandably, Durst though that thirteen digits would be sufficient to record the debt (which was a mere $2.7tn in the days of Reagonomics), plus one digit for the dollar sign.
Now, though, the first digit has elbowed the dollar sign out of the clock altogether, and a $ has been manually stuck alongside so no one could think they were looking at, say, the Zimbabwean national debt instead.
LOL
Well then do some brain gymnastics ,stretch your imagination and start explaining why never any money was found to initiate education pograms and health care initiatives costing 20 billion of dollars but 750 billions of dollars was materialized out of thin air in a matter of yours once the Wall Street bankers ware loosing money ?SP4,feel challenges?I didn't think so.
Facr is if anybody takes you for a fool,it must have been the republicans ,consistently opposing any measure that would enhance the access to education and health care for the poorest amongst you ,lamenting that there was no money for it.
Now that's insane,and what is even worse is that many of you acrualy believed all that crap.Are you still doing that now ?If so then today is your day....
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TomOct 9th, 2008 - 22:56:02
I think that's the problem is that the IMF and capitalism says that growth below 3% is a recession.
When in fact we need no growth and even negative growth just so we can save the planet and the human species.
But instead these idiots keep handing over billions to the developers and that means more homes that use energy that fuels global warming.
every additional human added to the total population is a step closer to annihilation for all of us
there should be 1 billion people not 7 billion
but instead we have a situation where we can see the quality of life and of everything for that matter deteriorate every day
it is just insane
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