Virgil
10-15-2008, 03:18 PM
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqVXZ9AjB7N4&refer=home
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Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks plunged the most since the crash of 1987, hammered by the biggest drop in retail sales in three years and growing doubt that plans to bail out banks will keep the economic slump from deepening.
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. tumbled more than 12 percent as oil fell below $75 a barrel on concern the slowing economy will hurt demand. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. retreated 8 percent after the Commerce Department said purchases at chain stores decreased 1.2 percent last month. Morgan Stanley lost 16 percent after Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney said the government's bank rescue is not a ``panacea'' solution.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index sank 90.17 points, or 9 percent, to 907.84, with nine companies declining more than 20 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 733.08, or 7.9 percent, to 8,577.91, its second-biggest point drop ever. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 150.68, or 8.5 percent, to 1,628.33. About 37 stocks fell for each that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
``It's absolutely trading on fear right now and uncertainty, because nobody knows yet how bad the economy is going to get,'' said John Wilson, the co-director of equity strategy at Memphis, Tennessee-based Morgan Keegan, which manages $120 billion. ``It's disquieting to me, and I've been doing this for 35 years.''
Rally Pared
The retreat over the past two days erased almost all of the gains in the S&P 500 and Dow on Oct. 13, when the market rallied the most since the 1930s on speculation the government's plan to shore up banks will ease the credit crisis. Efforts to calm financial markets probably won't result in an immediate economic rebound, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told the Economic Club of New York.
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Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks plunged the most since the crash of 1987, hammered by the biggest drop in retail sales in three years and growing doubt that plans to bail out banks will keep the economic slump from deepening.
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. tumbled more than 12 percent as oil fell below $75 a barrel on concern the slowing economy will hurt demand. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. retreated 8 percent after the Commerce Department said purchases at chain stores decreased 1.2 percent last month. Morgan Stanley lost 16 percent after Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney said the government's bank rescue is not a ``panacea'' solution.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index sank 90.17 points, or 9 percent, to 907.84, with nine companies declining more than 20 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 733.08, or 7.9 percent, to 8,577.91, its second-biggest point drop ever. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 150.68, or 8.5 percent, to 1,628.33. About 37 stocks fell for each that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
``It's absolutely trading on fear right now and uncertainty, because nobody knows yet how bad the economy is going to get,'' said John Wilson, the co-director of equity strategy at Memphis, Tennessee-based Morgan Keegan, which manages $120 billion. ``It's disquieting to me, and I've been doing this for 35 years.''
Rally Pared
The retreat over the past two days erased almost all of the gains in the S&P 500 and Dow on Oct. 13, when the market rallied the most since the 1930s on speculation the government's plan to shore up banks will ease the credit crisis. Efforts to calm financial markets probably won't result in an immediate economic rebound, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told the Economic Club of New York.
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