Wall Street Stocks Plunge to Multiyear Lows

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 10, 2002

Wall Street Stocks Plunge to Multiyear Lows

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Wall Street stocks plunged Wednesday,with the Big Three indexes falling to new multiyear lows, as bearish brokerage reports for bellwethers such as General Electric and General Motors prompted investors to dump stocks once again.

The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 215.22 points, or 2.87 percent, to 7,286.27, its lowest close since October 27, 1997, after rising 78.65 points Tuesday.

Broader stock indicators were sharply down. The technology heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 15.10 points, or 1.34 percent,to 1,114.11, the lowest level since August 1996. The Standard & Poor's 500 index tumbled 21.79 points, or 2.73 percent, to 776.76,the lowest finish since April 28, 1997.

The market jumped in the morning session, with the Dow index surging 172 points and the Nasdaq composite soaring 16 points in the first hour of the trading, as the 10-day lockout in the West Coast ports would soon end after a federal judge approved President Bush's request to reopen the ports.

But the stocks then fell into a negative territory on earnings worries, after Morgan Stanley cut its 2003 earnings estimate for General Electric, due to a decline in GE's power and aerospace markets, and Lehman Brothers lowered its cash flow forecast over the period of 2003 through 2006 on General Motors and cut the company's price target.

Among the blue chips, General Electric fell 1.35 dollars to 22.00 dollars, General Motors declined 2.59 dollars to 31.01 dollars,Ford Motor sank 60 cents to 7.15 dollars, DaimlerChrysler dropped 2.07 dollars to 30.17 dollars.

In the technology sector, Hewlett-Packard eased 38 cents to 11.16 dollars, Microsoft slipped 1.00 dollar to 43.99 dollars, Dell Computer skid 33 cents to 25.00 dollars, but Cisco Systems rose 63cents to 9.27 dollars, Intel added 24 cents to 13.46 dollars.

The NYSE index closed down 13.13 points at 421.09, the AmericanStock Exchange index fell 16.85 points to 771.88, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slumped 13.28 points to 327.04.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 6-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 480 up, 2,831 down and 107 unchanged.

NYSE trading volume decreased to 1.83 billion shares from 1.94 billion in the previous session.

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