NEW YORK – March 13 – The Dow Jones industrial average slipped more than four-hundred points. The Nasdaq composite index went below 2000 yesterday for the first time in 27 months.
The speed of the selloff stunned even investors who have become accustomed to the bearish atmosphere that has pervaded Wall Street for months. Yesterday’s losses extended a selloff that began last week when tech bellwethers Yahoo!, Intel and Cisco Systems said the weak economy will hurt business in the coming months.
The Nasdaq dropped 129-point-40 to one-thousand-923-point-38 in heavy trading, a six-point-three percent loss. The last time the index closed below 2,000 was December 14, 1998.
The selling spilled over to blue chips that lately had escaped investors’ fury. The Dow fell four-point-one percent to ten-thousand-208-point-25.
The biggest reason, however, is frustration over the fact that there’s no apparent end to weak earnings. With the end of the first quarter approaching and earnings warnings season beginning, the bad news may just be starting.
Consultants say the market’s decline is the result of several factors, including disappointment that the Federal Reserve isn’t lowering rates more aggressively.
