Markets in Red: Wall Street sinks to 1997 levels
New York, Feb 24: Wall Street plunged to their lowest close in nearly 12 years on Monday, Feb 23 with Dow Jones average and the S&P 500 index plummeting which is a disappointment for the investors with the latest plan from Washington to gear up the ailing US banking system.
Big technology companies like IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Apple declined sharply Monday, Feb 23 on worries about a fall-off in business and consumer spending on technology hurt the tech sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 250.89 points (3.41 per cent) to 7,114.78, crashing below its November bear market low and hitting its lowest close since May 1997.
Bank stocks rallied Monday as reports said that Citigroup Inc. is in talks with federal officials that may increase the government's ownership of the bank.
While the discussions could fall apart, the government could wind up holding as much as 40 percent of Citigroup's common stock. Bank executives hope the stake will be closer to 25 percent.
The
broad-market
Standard
&
Poor's
500
index
shed
26.72
points
(3.47
per
cent)
to
743.33,
its
lowest
finish
since
April
1997.
The
Treasury
Department,
Federal
Deposit
Insurance
Corp.,
Office
of
the
Comptroller
of
the
Currency,
Office
of
Thrift
Supervision
and
the
Federal
Reserve
jointly
issued
the
statement
Monday
saying
they
will
launch
a
revamped
program
to
inject
fresh
capital
into
financial
institutions
this
week.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid 53.51 points (3.71 per cent) to 1,387.72, its lowest level since November 2008.
OneIndia News