Spokane7
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May 20, 2010 in Business
Stocks dive, Dow off 376 on world economic worries
NEW YORK — Stocks plunged again Thursday as more investors woke up to the possibility that economic problems such as Europe’s debt crisis might spread around the world and stop the growing recovery in the U.S.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 376 points, its biggest one-day point drop since February 2009, and all the major indexes were down well over 3 percent. Meanwhile, interest rates fell sharply in the Treasury market as investors once again sought the safety of U.S. government debt.
With Thursday’s drop, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, considered the best indicator of the stock market’s performance, is down almost 12 percent from its 2010 high close of 1,217.28, reached April 23. That means the market is officially in what’s called a correction, a drop of 10 percent or more from a recent high. This is the first correction since stock indexes hit 12-year lows in March last year. The fact it has occurred in just 19 trading days shows how anxious traders are.
Analysts said there was no big event to set off Thursday’s selling. More investors seemed to be grasping the possibility that the U.S. recovery could be in jeopardy. And many were wondering whether the stock market’s big rebound since March 2009 may not have been entirely justified.
“The economic recovery story has started to look like a mirage and the new reality is a return to credit crunch conditions” like those seen during the financial crisis, said Tom Samuels, manager of the Palantir Fund in Houston. “If that’s correct, stock prices are well ahead of economic reality.”
Investors are concerned that the debt problems in European nations like Greece and Portugal will spill over to other countries, cause a cascade of massive losses for big banks and in turn halt the economic recovery in countries beyond Europe, including the U.S. They’re also worried that China might take steps that will limit its economic growth, which would also affect the U.S. recovery. Analysts said the market is vulnerable to rumors about any of the major economies right now.
Investors appear increasingly convinced that European countries will need to adopt stringent spending cuts to pay down their heavy debt loads, independent market analyst Edward Yardeni said. Such cuts would likely to lead to long economic slump for those countries, a prospect that investors may now be accepting as reality as they sell stocks and the euro, the currency shared by 16 European nations, Yardeni said.
The euro, which has become a key indicator of confidence in Europe’s economy, managed to rise to $1.2496 in late afternoon trading, a day after hitting $1.2146, a four-year low. But its advance didn’t help stocks.
“The drop in the euro is the initial phase of a long-term, multi-year economic decline in Europe,” Yardeni said. “It shows a declining confidence in the workability of the EU (European Union) monetary union, and that’s why their stock markets are down.”
“It’s starting to look like one of these tragic stories where one person falls through the ice, then everyone else rushes in to help and ends up drowning,” he added.
The market’s slide over the past four weeks on worries about the global economy has been a painful reminder of the turbulent days during the 2008 financial crisis. On April 26, the Dow closed at its highest point since the market hit bottom on March 9, 2009. Since then, it has fallen nearly 1,000 points. It has fallen by at least 100 points in nine of the 18 trading days since its peak.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 376.36, or 3.6 percent, to 10,068.01.
The S&P 500 fell 43.46, or 3.9 percent, to 1,071.59. The Nasdaq composite index fell 94.36, or 4.1 percent, to 2,204.01.
At the New York Stock Exchange, only 153 stocks rose compared with 2,994 that fell. Volume came to a heavy 2.1 billion shares.
The market got some confirmation from a Federal Reserve official that Europe’s problems could be a “potentially serious setback.” Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo said that if the debt crisis curbed lending and the flow of credit globally, that would endanger both the U.S. and global recoveries, he says.
“Although we view such a development as unlikely, the swoon in global financial markets earlier this month suggests it is not out of the question,” he said in prepared remarks.
Analysts said traders were retreating from any investment thought to be too dangerous to own right now. That has meant heavy selling in stocks, commodities and troubled currencies like the euro.
“Investors are in the midst of a major de-risking period due to debt concerns in Europe and signs of a slowdown in China, and now that’s accelerating,” said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak. “The fundamental concern right now are these threats to global growth.”
As investors pulled out of stocks and other risky investments like commodities, they moved into safer investments such as U.S. Treasurys. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.22 percent from 3.37 percent late Wednesday.
Commodities prices also fell as investors speculated that a weak world economy would curtail demand for raw materials. Crude oil fell $1.86 to $68.01 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Northwest wheat 
PhiltheBibliophil on May 20 at 1:05 p.m.
True unemployment goes to 30% and stocks to 6000 or below by early 2011. Mell of a Hess Bush left us with isn’t it?
misjustice on May 20 at 2:14 p.m.
Indeed, Phil, it is a mell of a hess! : (
bdr on May 20 at 4:11 p.m.
who cares about euros…….heck the cheaper they get (euro)
our dollar debts automatically get cheaper. go baby go….
tank that stock market. wwwwwwwwwwwoooooooohoooooooo.
euro dives europe gas goes higher.
USA gets stronger….making our gas cheaper.