Stocks Plunge: Greece Again
Greece is the word...again. Today, fears over Greece's debt woes came to the fore, as they have so many times over the past year. The unexpected resignation of European Central Bank chief economist Jürgen Stark was seen as a sign of deepening divisions over how to solve Europe's economic problems. That news was followed by a rumor that went viral throughout the day: supposedly, Greece was going to default this weekend. Greek officials denied the rumor, but the damage was done, at least for a day.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 303.68 points, or 2.7 percent, to close at 10,992.13. The Dow at several points approached a 400-point decline in afternoon trading.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 31.67, or 2.7 percent, to 1,154.23. The Nasdaq Composite fell 61.15, or 2.4 percent, to 2,467.99.
Nervous investors rushed to buy investments seen as safe, sending Treasury yields to historic lows. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note plunged to its lowest level since the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis began keeping daily records in 1962. It fell to 1.92 percent from 1.99 percent late Thursday.
The plunge extends a terrible quarter for the stock markets. The S&P 500 is down 13 percent since the third quarter started in July. However, it has recovered almost 4 percent since its lowest close this year on Aug. 8.
Of course everyone want this horrible roller coaster ride to end, but until investors are convinced that there is a solution to the European debt crisis and that global growth is resuming an upward trajectory, it's likely to continue.
