No End in Sight? Dow Closes 449 Points Down

After it became clear the government's bailout of AIG wouldn't stop investors from being worried, the Dow closed 449 points down. Some quotes:

"There's a clear fright to the market right now," said Anthony Conroy, head of trading at BNY ConvergEx Group, a New York stock brokerage. "It's a virus that's running through the market. If investors don't know what a firm's exposure is [to bad credit bets], they're just running away." (WSJ)
"What does tomorrow bring? Will it start spilling over into consumers? Will there be runs on the banks? There's a million things going on," said Angel Mata, managing director of listed equity trading at Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets. "Hopefully, we'll see a capitulation soon when everybody throws in the towel." (CNBC)
“There’s a growing sense that there’s no end to this in sight,” Edward Yardeni, the investment strategist, said. (NY Times)
"There is paralysis," says [Todd] Clark [trader at Nollenberger Capital Partners]. "Everyone is afraid that the credit crisis won't go away. It's like the financial sector has been in a serious car accident and the government is treating the patient with band aids instead of surgery." (USA Today)

With all the panic, gold prices rose to $850.50, its biggest one day price increase since 1980.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on September 17, 2008 4:23 PM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

Hedgefunds are selling off and going back into oil.(we'll always have the Nigerian Delta, won't we?) But that can't last and they know it. Time for a few million clients to demand their money back.

contro

Can I haz paintbrush?

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/09/0916_lehman/12.htm

babyhitler

Only 449 points George? You can do better than that. I'm still here DUBYA. I dare you to touch that Nuclear Football. C'mon I know you want to.

Phineas Gage

Quit whining about the mental recession you damn liberals.

-- Sen. Gramm, senior economic advisor to Sen. McCain

Steven

Let's see the if Dow can drop below 10,000.

President Bush will do down in the history books as one if not the worst president in the history of America.

westernqueensland

Where is the bottom?

The bottom is sticking up: It is our bottom waiting tensely for the "regulation"">http://sgregoire.googlepages.c...">"regulation" that the market has been demanding.

ladywarfield

hey, well, lots of great art and literature came out of the poorest of times. get out the brushes kids! soon folks will be selling apples on Bedford Avenue.