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business
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MARKETS. Benchmarks
submerge to new depths
Wall Street tumbles for second day
||| U.S. stocks slid and the S&P 500 Index
plunged to its lowest level in 6 years after economic
reports depicted a deepening recession and lawmakers
postponed a vote on a plan to salvage the auto industry.
||| The Dow Jones capped
its lowest close since March 2003.
Tim Paradis | AP
Business Writer
NEW YORK – U.S. stocks plunged for a second straight
day on Thursday, falling to a range not seen in more
than five years as financial and energy stocks tumbled
while demand for the safety of government debt spiked to
historic levels.
Stocks saw the most intense selling late in the session
after hopes faded that lawmakers would quickly put
together an aid package for U.S. automakers and as the
Standard & Poor's 500 index broke through lows
established in 2002. That breach of a key technical
threshold sent a shudder through the market and touched
off further selling.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.7 percent to the
752 level, below the closing low of 776.76 logged on
Oct. 9, 2002. The Dow Jones industrial average,
meanwhile, fell 445 points, or 5.6 percent, to its
lowest close since March 2003. The decline brings the
Dow's two-day drop to 873 points, or 10.6 percent, its
worst two-day percentage loss since October 1987.
The Dow fell 444.99, or 5.56 percent, to 7,552.29.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 54.14, or 6.71
percent, to 752.44, while the Nasdaq composite index
fell 70.30, or 5.07 percent, to 1,316.12.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 27.07,
or 6.56 percent, to 385.31.
Thursday's pullback came amid heavy volume, a welcome
sign for some investors who are looking for the market
to experience a cathartic sell-off that could lay the
groundwork for a recovery.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 10 to 1
on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to
2.23 billion shares.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 6.9 percent,
while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid 4.04 percent.
Britain's FTSE 100 fell 3.26 percent, Germany's DAX
index fell 3.08 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 3.48
percent. |||
||| EARNINGS. PC spending
slows
Dell 3Q profit falls
The Associated Press
ROUND ROCK, Texas – PC
maker Dell Inc. said on Thursday its third-quarter
profit fell 5 percent as businesses around the world
bought fewer computers and other technology products.
Dell's earnings dipped to $727 million in the quarter
that ended Oct. 31, down from $766 million a year ago.
But Dell bought back a significant number of shares over
the last year, pushing earnings per share up 9 percent,
to 37 cents per share.
That was 6 cents better than analysts were expecting,
according to a Thomson Reuters poll. Sales slipped 3
percent to about $15 billion, shy of analyst
expectations for $16.2 billion, dragged down by slower
spending by corporations.
In the Americas, Dell's largest region for sales to
businesses, revenue dropped 8 percent. "We expect the
challenging environment to continue," Dell Chief
Financial Officer Brian Gladden said during a conference
call. |||
||| STOCK. Despite Saudi
prince's investment
Citi shares sink
Frank Bajak |
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK – Citigroup Inc.
shares tumbled below $5 a share Thursday to their lowest
level in more than 15 years, a sign that a Saudi
prince's decision to boost his stake in the bank has
failed to galvanize confidence among increasingly
anxious investors.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a longtime investor in
Citigroup, said he plans to increase his stake in the
bank to 5 percent from less than 4 percent. He also
expressed "his full and complete support" of the bank's
management – including Vikram Pandit, who has been CEO
for less than a year.
This year, Prince Alwaleed ranked No. 19 on Forbes' list
of the world's billionaires, with net worth of $21
billion. He invested roughly $350 million in Citigroup.
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