Wall Street
selloff intensifies

Bloomberg

NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average plunged today to its biggest weekly loss since 1989, as concern the slowing economy will stifle corporate profits extended beyond technology shares to Dow companies. The week ended with the value of U.S. stocks falling $888 billion.

The selling began Monday when the Nasdaq composite index fell 6.3 percent and dropped below 2000 for the first time in more than two years. The Nasdaq completed its seventh-straight losing week, the first time that's happened in 21 years. "People are concerned about what the next couple of quarters are going to be like for earnings in light of the economic slowdown," said Larry Weissman, who runs the Smith Barney Mid Cap Core Fund.

The Nasdaq declined 49.85, or 2.6 percent, to 1,890.86. The index has lost 23 percent this year. The Dow lost 207.87, or 2.1 percent, to 9,823.41. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 23.03, or 2 percent, to 1,150.53.

The Dow lost 7.7 percent for the week, its worst weekly performance since Oct. 13, 1989. The Nasdaq dropped 7.9 percent, and the S&P 500 lost 6.7 percent. More than 1.5 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the fourth-busiest day in the exchange's history and 26 percent more than the three-month daily average.

Quarterly "triple witching," the simultaneous expiration of stock-index futures, index options and options on individual stocks, boosted trading volume.

The New York Stock Exchange fell 11.19 to 587.66, the American Stock Exchange composite index dropped 13.61 to 869.54 and the Russell 2000 index fell 10.36 to 441.80. The Treasury's 10-year note rose 5/32 to 101 27/32; its yield fell 2 basis points to 4.76 percent. The 30-year bond was unchanged at 101 20/32; its yield stayed at 5.27 percent.