The Dow Jones industrial average opened down nearly 3 percent after the Federal Reserve took steps Wednesday to help revive the economy. Here’s a look at the five biggest single-day gains and losses in the index’s history.
Kerajaan Rakyat (Reuters) U.S. stocks plummeted Thursday, mimicking the rest of the world’s markets, with investors reacting to a grim outlook on the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve and fearing for the fate of European banks.
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged about 390 points, or 3.5 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq indexes followed suit, dropping more than 3 percent. All three indexes had been down at least 4.5 percent earlier in the afternoon but trimmed their losses before the close of the trading session.
Global commodities were also down across the board, as the outlook for world economic growth -- particularly in China, the world’s second-largest economy -- dimmed. Lower prices implied less demand for everything from oil to agricultural products to precious metals. Crude oil was down more than 7 percent to around $80 a barrel Thursday, and even gold, which has soared to new highs on concerns about economic stability, was down 3.8 percent to $1,737 an ounce.
World News
