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Dow Jones sinks to seven year low

20 February 2009 08:01 (UTC +04:00)

Bakuâ€“APA-Economics. The Dow industrials closed at a more than six-year low on Thursday as investor fears that banks could be nationalized drove their stocks to a 17-year low and a rise in the number people receiving jobless benefits to a record high stoked worries about the deepening recession.
After several near misses this week, blue chips blew through the November 20 bear market closing low in late trade, erasing a year-end rally built on hopes a new president would successfully tackle the deepening recession.
The Nasdaq fared the worst of the three major indexes after a disappointing outlook from Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) sent its stock down almost 8 percent and dragged down other technology shares, Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest PC maker, which warned its expects weak market conditions to persist, was also the Dow’s biggest negative weight.
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) lost 89.68 points, or 1.19 percent, to close at 7,465.95, after setting an intraday bear market low of 7,447.55. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) gave up 9.48 points, or 1.20 percent, to 778.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was down 25.15 points, or 1.71 percent, at 1,442.82
Since the start of the year, the Dow has fallen nearly 15 percent.
Trading was moderate on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.49 billion shares changing hands, in line with last year’s estimated daily average of 1.49 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 2.04 billion shares traded, below last year’s daily average of 2.28 billion.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,215 to 856 while decliners beat advancers on the Nasdaq by about 1,788 to 829.