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Trader Christopher Lotito watches the numbers fall as he works on the floor of the...

9. 10. 2008, Lenta.ru Торги на американских фондовых биржах седьмой раз подряд закрылись значительным падением, передаёт агентство France Presse.

Промышленный индекс Dow Jones впервые с 2003 года опустился ниже 9000 пунктов, потеряв 7,3 процента. Сильнее всего из входящих в Dow Jones компаний потеряла в стоимости General Motors, акции которой упали на 30 процентов.

Высокотехнологичный Nasdaq по итогам торгов потерял 5,47 процента и упал до 1645 пунктов, в то время как Standard & Poor's упал на 7,29 процента до 913 пунктов.

Как отмечает агентство, резкое падение индексов произошло в последние часы торгов, сопровождавшиеся паникой трейдеров, вылившейся в массовые продажи акций и соответственно, резкое падение котировок.

Очередное падение индексов произошло на фоне новостей о том, что США намерены частично национализировать крупнейшие банки страны.

Market drops below 9,000

Dow plunges 679 to fall to lowest level in 5 years

9.10. 2008 By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer 27 minutes ago

NEW YORK – Stocks plunged in the final hour of trading Thursday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 679 points – more than 7 percent – to its lowest level in five years after a major credit ratings agency said it might cut its rating on General Motors Corp.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index also fell more than 7 percent.

The declines came on the one-year anniversary of the closing highs of the Dow and the S&P. The Dow has lost 5,585 points, or 39.4 percent, since closing at 14,198 on Oct. 9, 2007. The S&P 500, meanwhile, is off 655 points, or 41.9 percent, since recording its high of 1,565.15.

U.S. stock market paper losses totaled $872 billion Thursday and the value of shares overall has tumbled a stunning $8.33 trillion since last year's high. That's based on preliminary figures measured by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index, which tracks 5,000 U.S.-based companies' stocks and represents almost all stocks traded in America.

Thursday's sell-off came as Standard & Poor's Ratings Services put GM and its finance affiliate GMAC LLC under review to see if its rating should be cut. GM has been struggling with weak car sales in North America.

The action means there is a 50 percent chance that S&P will lower GM's and GMAC's ratings in the next three months.

S&P also put Ford Motor Co. on credit watch negative. The ratings agency said that GM and Ford have adequate liquidity now, but that could change in 2009.

GM led the Dow lower, falling $2.15, or 31 percent, to $4.76, while Ford fell 58 cents, or 22 percent, to $2.08.

«The story is getting to be like that movie 'Groundhog Day,» said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. He pointed to the still-frozen credit markets, and Libor, the bank-to-bank lending rate that remains stubbornly high despite interest rate cuts this week by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks.

"Until that starts coming down, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone getting excited about stocks," Hogan said. "Everything we're seeing is historic. The problem is historic, the solutions are historic, and unfortunately, the sell-off is historic. It's not the kind of history you want to be making."

The Dow ended the day at its lows, finishing down 678.91, or 7.3 percent, at 8,579.19. The blue chips hadn't closed below the 9,000 level since the June 30, 2003.

Broader stock indicators also tumbled. The S&P 500 fell 75.02, or 7.6 percent, to 909.92, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 95.21, or 5.5 percent, to 1,645.12.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 47.37, or 8.7 percent, to 499.20.

A wave of fear about the economy sent stocks lower in the final two hours of trading after a volatile morning in which major indicators like the Dow and the S&P 500 index bobbed up and down. The Nasdaq, with a bevy of tech stocks, spent much of the session higher but eventually declined as the sell-off intensified. Still, its losses were less severe because of the relatively modest drops in names like Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

On the New York Stock Exchange, declining issues came to nearly 3,000, while fewer than 250 advanced.

The sluggishness in the credit markets that triggered much of the heavy selling in markets around the world since mid-September appeared little changed Thursday following days of efforts by the Federal Reserve and other central banks to resuscitate lending.

Libor, the bank lending benchmark, for three-month dollar loans rose to 4.75 percent from 4.52 percent on Wednesday. That signals that banks remain hesitant to make loans for fear they won't be paid back.

The Fed and other leading central banks this week lowered key interest rates to help unclog the credit markets and promote lending to help the global economy. While a rate cut can take up to a year to work its way through the economy, the move was aimed as a boost to investor sentiment.

"We're stuck in a morass and I think it's going to take quite some time to come out of it," said Stephen Carl, principal and head of equity trading at The Williams Capital Group.

Demand remained high for short-term Treasurys, a refuge for investors willing to trade modest returns to protect their money. The yield on the three-month Treasury bill, which moves opposite its price, fell to 0.51 percent from 0.63 percent late Wednesday. Longer-term debt prices fell, with the yield on the 10-year note rising to 3.79 percent from 3.65 percent late Wednesday.

Investors across markets were mulling a plan being considered by the Bush administration to invest in hobbled U.S. banks as a way to stabilize the financial sector. The $700 billion rescue package signed into law last week allows the Treasury Department to inject fresh capital into financial institutions and obtain ownership shares in return.

Britain rolled out a similar plan, though no U.K. bank has received any investments. In Iceland, the government now has control of the country's three major banks as it struggles to contain the troubles there.

Wall Street is also looking for any effects of short selling now that a three-week ban imposed by regulators has expired. Short selling is a technique in which investors borrow shares in a company from a broker and sell them, hoping to buy them back later at a lower price. Essentially, it's a bet that a stock's price will fall. Short sellers can lose money if they have to repurchase the stock after it has risen.

Some analysts believe the unprecedented ban on short selling – an effort to bolster investor confidence — did more harm than good at a time of historic market volatility. They contend that short sellers help the market rally by covering their bets and creating demand for stocks.

"I think the market's way oversold. But I can't stand in the way of this falling knife – I'd get sliced open," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors. "Investors are just saying, get me out at any price."

He also said that with the short-selling rule back in play, hedge funds might be shorting again to make up for their forced liquidations.

The tech sector saw less selling than other parts of the market after IBM Corp. affirmed its forecast.

IBM fell $1.55, or 1.7 percent, to $89. Meanwhile, Intel fell 65 cents, or 4 percent, to $15.60. Microsoft fell 71 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $22.30.

Energy names were among the biggest decliners as the price of oil fell. Exxon Mobil Corp. fell $9, or 12 percent, to $68, while Chevron Corp. fell $9.10, or 12 percent, to $64.

Light, sweet crude fell $1.81 to settle at $86.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest closing price since October last year.

Trading volume on the NYSE came to 2.04 billion shares.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 0.50 percent while the Hang Seng added 3.31 percent. In Europe, Britain's FTSE-100 fell 1.21 percent, Germany's DAX fell 2.53 percent, and France's CAC-40 declined 1.55 percent.

LUCH 2008