Wall Street’s Awful Day by the NumbersThe Dow Jones Industrial Average had its worst point decline -- and 10th drop overall in 11 days -- in almost three years on Thursday as worries about the economy, in both the U.S. and around the world, continued to grow. The Dow hasn't closed this low since December, and it hasn't seen an intraday drawdown this fierce since the flash crash of May 2010.
Selling was widespread on Wall Street, and investors struggled to find safety. Everywhere you turned, almost regardless of stock, sector or asset class, the direction was downward. The Dow is now lower by 1.67% for the year, according to data from Dow Jones Indexes, and is in a correction owing to a close that's 10% under its recent high.
Here's a quick look at some of the key numbers at the end of what was a brutal day in New York trading:
-Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI): Down 512.76 points, or 4.31%, to 11,383.68
-S&P 500 (^GSPC): Down 60.27 points, or 4.78%, to 1200.07
-Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC): Down 136.68 points, or 5.08%, to 2556.39
So what should people at home do? Avoid panic, for starters. The swiftness of this correction is unusual, but a 10% drop is not. Just last summer stocks fell 17% on concerns not unlike those we face today. If you're an investor who can't sleep tonight, you're probably too exposed to stocks. Sell until you can sleep. Nobody ever made good financial decisions scared or tired.
