[Defender968]

Here we go, hold on to your hats, and your wallets.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/mar...futures-lower/

Blizzard of Bad News Sends Dow Below 7K

Matt Egan
FOXBusiness
Monday, March 02, 2009

The only thing falling harder on Wall Street than snow Monday morning were the battered markets as the Dow sank below the 7000 level for the first time since 1997 in response to new bleak economic data and the government's latest rescue of AIG.

Today’s Markets

As of 10:23 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 155.71 points, or 2.21%, to 6908.25, the S&P 500 lost 16.97 points, or 2.31%, to 718.12 and the Nasdaq Composite sank 22.69 points, or 1.65%, to 1355.15. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 dropped 11.30 points, or 2.04%, to 541.54.

While the $30 billion in new aid for AIG (AIG: 0.4843, 0.0544, 12.65%) was at the forefront Monday morning, the markets were also slammed by a gloomy manufacturing report, new data showing the U.S. savings rate hit 14-year highs in January and HSBC’s (HBC: 27.88, -6.94, -19.93%) plans to raise $18 billion.

The combination of gloomy headlines and negative market sentiment sent the Dow below the psychologically-important 7000 mark for the first time since Oct. 1997. The losses come after the Dow ended at its lowest level since May 1997 on Friday, capping off its worst February since 1933. Slammed by the global recession and the worst credit crisis since the Great Depression, the benchmark index is mired in its longest monthly losing streak since September 2002.

“I think we’re going to see some type of dead-cat bounce this week, “NYSE trader Jason Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business, predicting a “pretty substantial pop.” However, with January’s jobs report due on Friday, he said the gains will likely be fleeting.

Nearly all 30 components of the Dow were in the red Monday morning, led by financial companies Citigroup (C: 1.449, 0.039, 2.77%), Bank of America (BAC: 3.3827, -0.5973, -15.01%) and General Electric (GE: 7.7899, -0.7501, -8.78%). Industrial companies like Caterpillar (CAT: 22.93, -1.68, -6.83%) and General Motors (GM: 2.102, -0.178, -7.81%) also fell sharply. On the other hand, Intel (INTC: 12.7601, 0.0201, 0.16%) and Merck (MRK: 24.14, -0.06, -0.25%) were
flirting with positive territory.