Wall Street Crash: Who was the biggest loser Thursday
One bright spot for Americans, gas prices
8:52 a.m. Friday, October 10, 2008
UPDATE: NEW YORK (AP) - The devastating selling continues on Wall Street, with investors dumping stocks in early trading. The Dow Jones industrials, already down 2,271 points in seven sessions, are down more than 660. U.S. trading is following huge declines overseas. Investors around the world are panicking because credit markets remain frozen and pose a threat to the global economy. The Dow is off 663 at the 7,915 level. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down more than 7 percent, and the Nasdaq composite is down more than 5 percent.
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After the down plunged 679 points Tursday to its lowest level in five years -- the seventh straight day stocks have fallen -- financial analysts were using a new word to describe this bear market.
"We have this sort of mini-crash," Chief Investment Strategist Liz Ann Sanders said.
"That's a crash. You can call it anything you like," Chief Market Strategist with Jefferies & Co. Art Hogan said.
The Treasury Department is now considering a plan to make direct cash investments in banks that would provide the banks with more money, which they could then use to make all types of loans.
"The United States will take strong action in dealing with the current economic situation," Bush said.
Despite unprecedented action by the government, the credit markets remain frozen.
"What we have is the $700 billion dollar plan," UBS Securities Trader Art Cashin said. "But none of it has been deployed quite yet. The Secretary of the Treasury said I'm hoping to get to it. And that's one of the reasons we remain frozen up."
The biggest loser Thursday was General Motors, down 31 percent to its lowest level since 1950. GM and Ford both fell, after word their credit ratings might take a hit.
"I guess because of continued concerns about U.S. economy, foreign banks as well as General Motors in particular. I think that's just giving investors more reason to lighten their equity positions," Standard & Poor's Chief Equities Analyst Sam Stovall said.
Believe it or not, there is some good news. As the economy slows, so does demand for oil and gas, which is now 63 cents a gallon cheaper than it was at its peak this summer.
"To be able to save a little money at the pump is definitely a savings grace," Kansas resident Sandy Hickman said.
Still, the ripple effect continues around the world: A Japanese insurance company declared bankruptcy today becoming the first Japanese financial company to collapse in this global credit crisis.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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