Dow tumbles to year's lowest level under barrage of bad news

AP via Yahoo!:



Stocks tumble as more bad economic news piles up
By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer
1 minute ago



NEW YORK - Stocks plunged Thursday as Wall Street contended with a barrage of bad news: another surge in oil prices and warnings of trouble in the key financial, automotive and high-tech industries. The major indexes showed losses of about 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which at times shed more than 300 points and dropped to its lowest level in nearly two years.

The Dow fell as much as 313.79, or 2.66 percent, to 11,498.04, well under its 2008 trading low of 11,634.82, and its lowest level since September 2006. That sent some investors rushing for the safety of Treasury bonds — government debt is regarded as a haven when the stock market is in turmoil.

The passel of worries that investors juggled Thursday added up to an increasingly troubled economy. Analysts' negative comments on General Motors Corp. sent shares of the largest U.S. automaker to their lowest level in more than 30 years, while Citigroup Inc. fell sharply after an analyst placed a "sell" rating on the stock and warned investors to expect less from the brokerage sector in an uneasy economic climate. Disappointing outlooks from technology bellwethers Oracle Corp. and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. further soured investors' moods and made the tech sector one of the steepest decliners.

The gloom was compounded by an unnerving forecast about oil prices that raised the specter of higher inflation and even more damage to the economy.

OPEC President Chakib Khelil was quoted as telling a French television station that oil could rise to between $150 and $170 per barrel this summer before pulling back later in the year. That and a falling dollar helped send light, sweet crude up more than $5 and past $140 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Rising oil has saddled nearly all parts of the economy with higher costs, weighing on consumers who now have to reach much deeper into their wallets at the gas pump and therefore have less to spend elsewhere.

Thursday's confluence of bad news overshadowed the National Association of Realtors' report that existing home sales edged up last month, only the second increase in the past 10 months. It also wiped out any positive impact from the Federal Reserve's widely expected decision Wednesday to leave interest rates unchanged. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080626/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street

320.44 now

11463.19

What gets me is that corporations keep outsourcing jobs or wanting to increase H1-B visas but can't understand why no one is willing to buy a $30,000 to $40,000 car. Also, why no one is willing to commit to a $300,000 mortgage for 30 years.

The individuals the business channels bring on to explain what is wrong with the economy try to blame it on everything but 'JOBS.'

If individuals don't have a freaking job or are concerned about the job they have, why would they purchase the above items?

GM and Ford CEO's try and blame everything but themselves who get millions in pay every year. They of course haven't done anything but lay off thousands of middle class individuals that usually buy their freaking pickups and SUVs.

What a bizarre place this country has become during the past eight years.

Too many corporate players wanting to climax, but they're too flaccid and the phone keeps ringing.

down 354.83. Damn!

But that was never the idea anyway. If the Fed really wanted to turn this around, they would be pumping that paper into new businesses rather than bailing banks out.