scipian
Czar
Wall Street Slammed After China Stock Woes
Tuesday , February 27, 2007
FC1
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NEW YORK —
Wall Street suffered dramatic losses on Tuesday as an overnight sell-off in China spooked U.S. investors and helped push the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 550 points, though the markets trimmed losses in late afternoon.
At the close, the Dow was down roughly 415 points, well above the session lows. Just after 3 p.m. ET the Dow was nearly 550 points off its open.
A week ago, the index reached new closing and trading highs, rising as high as 12,795.92.
The decline in the Dow was the first 300 point-plus drop since March, 2003, when the index closed 307.29 points lower. It was also the largest loss since the first trading after September 11, 2001, when the blue chip index dropped 684 points.
Other indices were not immune to the day's losses, as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 49.82 points, or 3.44 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,399.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 96.65 points, or 3.86 percent, to close unofficially at 2,407.87.
The sell-off wiped out the year's gains for all three of the major U.S. stock indexes. At the unofficial closing levels, the Dow was down about 2 percent for the year, while the S&P 500 was down about 1.32 percent and the Nasdaq was down about 0.17 percent.
U.S. stock futures hinted at trouble long before trading opened on Tuesday after China's main equity index plunged on concerns that share valuations there had become overextended and economic growth may slow.
Click here to visit FOXBusiness.com's Investing Center.
That sent shivers of fear down Wall Street's spine and prompted investors to dump the shares of companies that rely heavily on Chinese demand, including Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), which was the Dow's biggest decliner.
"We've got a big correction in China and that kind of precipitated" the sell-off," said Todd Clark, director of stock trading at Nollenberger Capital Partners in San Francisco.
"I think that most of this is because the Chinese government ... has suggested they are going to try to take some steps to curb speculation."
The New York Stock Exchange said it instituted trading curbs at 1:03 p.m. amid the plunge in the U.S. stock market.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, which is known as a measure of fear on Wall Street, shot up more than 37 percent, overshadowing the 31.16 percent gain immediately following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
Anxieties about the U.S. economy also contributed to the sell-off, as investors' dwindling confidence was knocked down further by data showing that the economy may be decelerating more than anticipated. A Commerce Department report that orders for durable goods in January dropped by the largest amount in three months exacerbated jitters about the direction of the U.S. economy, just a day after former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the United States may be headed for a recession.
"It looks more and more like the economy is a slow growth economy," said Michael Strauss, chief economist at Commonfund. "Moderate economic growth is good — an abrupt stop in economic growth scares people."
The market had been expecting the government on Wednesday to revise its estimate of fourth-quarter GDP growth down to an annual rate of about 2.3 percent from an initial forecast of 3.5 percent, and grew increasingly nervous on Tuesday that the figure could come in even lower.
The housing market, which the Street had been hoping had bottomed out, also looked far from recovery after a Standard & Poor's index indicated that single-family home prices across the nation were flat in December. A later report from the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales climbed in January by the largest amount in two years, but the data didn't erase housing-related concerns, as median home prices fell for a sixth straight month.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
EDIT: Forgot link. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,254905,00.html
Also, they just added something about how it may be a technical glitch. Personally, the possibility of a glitch in the stock market is more terrifying.
Tuesday , February 27, 2007
FC1
ADVERTISEMENT
NEW YORK —
Wall Street suffered dramatic losses on Tuesday as an overnight sell-off in China spooked U.S. investors and helped push the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 550 points, though the markets trimmed losses in late afternoon.
At the close, the Dow was down roughly 415 points, well above the session lows. Just after 3 p.m. ET the Dow was nearly 550 points off its open.
A week ago, the index reached new closing and trading highs, rising as high as 12,795.92.
The decline in the Dow was the first 300 point-plus drop since March, 2003, when the index closed 307.29 points lower. It was also the largest loss since the first trading after September 11, 2001, when the blue chip index dropped 684 points.
Other indices were not immune to the day's losses, as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 49.82 points, or 3.44 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,399.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 96.65 points, or 3.86 percent, to close unofficially at 2,407.87.
The sell-off wiped out the year's gains for all three of the major U.S. stock indexes. At the unofficial closing levels, the Dow was down about 2 percent for the year, while the S&P 500 was down about 1.32 percent and the Nasdaq was down about 0.17 percent.
U.S. stock futures hinted at trouble long before trading opened on Tuesday after China's main equity index plunged on concerns that share valuations there had become overextended and economic growth may slow.
Click here to visit FOXBusiness.com's Investing Center.
That sent shivers of fear down Wall Street's spine and prompted investors to dump the shares of companies that rely heavily on Chinese demand, including Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), which was the Dow's biggest decliner.
"We've got a big correction in China and that kind of precipitated" the sell-off," said Todd Clark, director of stock trading at Nollenberger Capital Partners in San Francisco.
"I think that most of this is because the Chinese government ... has suggested they are going to try to take some steps to curb speculation."
The New York Stock Exchange said it instituted trading curbs at 1:03 p.m. amid the plunge in the U.S. stock market.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, which is known as a measure of fear on Wall Street, shot up more than 37 percent, overshadowing the 31.16 percent gain immediately following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
Anxieties about the U.S. economy also contributed to the sell-off, as investors' dwindling confidence was knocked down further by data showing that the economy may be decelerating more than anticipated. A Commerce Department report that orders for durable goods in January dropped by the largest amount in three months exacerbated jitters about the direction of the U.S. economy, just a day after former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the United States may be headed for a recession.
"It looks more and more like the economy is a slow growth economy," said Michael Strauss, chief economist at Commonfund. "Moderate economic growth is good — an abrupt stop in economic growth scares people."
The market had been expecting the government on Wednesday to revise its estimate of fourth-quarter GDP growth down to an annual rate of about 2.3 percent from an initial forecast of 3.5 percent, and grew increasingly nervous on Tuesday that the figure could come in even lower.
The housing market, which the Street had been hoping had bottomed out, also looked far from recovery after a Standard & Poor's index indicated that single-family home prices across the nation were flat in December. A later report from the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales climbed in January by the largest amount in two years, but the data didn't erase housing-related concerns, as median home prices fell for a sixth straight month.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
EDIT: Forgot link. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,254905,00.html
Also, they just added something about how it may be a technical glitch. Personally, the possibility of a glitch in the stock market is more terrifying.
when over here it's just business as usual. 
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