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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe major stock market indexes have staggered to their lowest levels in more than a decade, pulled down by investors’ rapidly waning confidence.
The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed today at their lowest levels since 1997, succumbing to growing worries about a recession that has no end in sight.
The Dow Jones industrial average today fell 250 points, or 3.4 percent, to 7,114. For the year, the index is down almost 19 percent.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index today dropped 26 points, or 3.5 percent, to close at 743, while the NASDAQ composite index fell 53 points, or 3.7 percent, to 1,387.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancers by about 6-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to a moderate 1.61 billion shares.
Most financial stocks were pounded even as government agencies led by the Treasury Department have said they will launch a revamped bank rescue program. It includes the option of increasing government ownership in financial institutions without having to pour more taxpayer money into them.
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