Dow Falls 427 Points, Closes Under 8,000

With prospects of an auto-industry bailout fading, the Dow Jones fell 5% today, dropping 427 points to close at 7997. CNBC says the "last time the Dow ended below 8,000 was March 2003." The S&P 500 fell 6% and the Nasdaq lost 6.5%. One investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management said to Bloomberg News, "Hideous day. It's hard to put a basement on this thing."

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By Jen Chung in News on November 19, 2008 4:50 PM

Comments [rss]

r1b2

We're going to continue to feel for the bottom for weeks. Until there's restored confidence, the market will not be a function of fundamentals. As such, it's entierly reasonable that we could easily be below 7000 before Christmas. Unless you have the stomach for a boatload of uncertainty, you should only be buying in now if your horizon is long enough. Understand a basic fact: if a stock loses 40%, it has to go up by 60% for you to be even. Once we hit bottom, it will be quite sometime until we rebound by 60%.

Shinobi Shaw

#5 SO true, this is just the beginning, by 2010-2011 people will see 2008 as a cake walk compare to what's coming.

Strap on your shoes as we go into the depths of hell itself.

NannyState

There's no definable bottom because the financial markets are still fucked up and there's a lot of companies that are still burning through old capital (Sept. 15 was not that long ago).Detroit's woes won't end with a loan package either: they are at least one full product cycle away from being competitive and now even foreign cars are piling up unsold. Car dealers are the #3 retail employer and they are on the verge of going under. And on, and on, and on. The stock market would drop to 3,000 to match the 1930 80% plunge. Watch those P/E ratios after Q4...that's where a potential rally might start.

babyhitler

7500. that's the time. if you are going to hold on to the stocks for more than 5 years then anytime is a good time to buy really.

ed_Extinct

That $700 billion spending spree is working like a charm.

Did you really believe this was going to egg timer diplomacy?

drewo

That $700 billion spending spree is working like a charm.

Can we have our money back now?

Rocknrope

Time to buy in?

TN

In one year people will probably look back at 2008 and say "and we thought 2008 was bad".

Kojak

There is no definitive financial capital really, theres just a collection of preeminent finance centers.

London, New York, Singapore, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Singapore, Hong Kong, maybe one more.