Well, balls do get broken. Just reading the news...
washingtonpost.com
Dow Plunges To Its Biggest Loss in Two Years
By Jerry Knight
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 20, 2006; 4:24 PM
Wall Street turned back the clock to 2005 today as the stock market suffered its heaviest losses in two years.
As underwhelming corporate profits overwhelmed the market, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 213 points to 10,667.39, wiping out the last of the new year's gains by the Dow.
The Nasdaq Stock Market composite index fell 54 points to 2,247.70.
The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index dropped almost 24 points to 1,261.49.
General Electric Co., Citigroup Inc. and Motorola Inc. were among the big names whose quarterly sales and earnings were not good enough to satisfy investors.
GE's quarterly revenues grew only 2.4 percent, which was less than analysts had forecast. Similarly Citi came up a few million dollars short of the $5 billion in profits analysts were expecting. And Motorola didn't make quite as much money or as many cell phones as predicted because of parts shortages.
The skids were lubricated by oil prices, which today climbed toward $69 a barrel -- threatening to bring back $3-a-gallon gasoline.
Speculators swarmed into oil futures. They are counting on the price to keep rising because of the deteriorating situation in Iran, which is resuming nuclear research in defiance of the United States and its allies.
High oil prices, of course, are a big factor in the woes of the U.S. auto industry, which was braced today for another round of bloodletting.
Ford is expected to announce Monday that it will cut 25,000 jobs and close a number of plants. Ford also will stop making minivans and perhaps some small pickups and big sport utility vehicles as well, industry sources predicted. |
