Dow Plummets to Below 12,000

An oil boost and continued financial woes batter the markets
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 20, 2008 3:34 PM CDT
Dow Plummets to Below 12,000
Traders and Specialists work on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange during the afternoon hours Friday, June 20, 2008.    (AP Photo/David Karp)

The markets tumbled today to lows not seen since the Bear Stearns fiasco in March, MarketWatch reports. Oil surged back over $135 a barrel, erasing yesterday’s meager gains, and bad news continued to depress financials. The Dow fell 220.40 to 11,842.69, the Nasdaq 55.87 to 2,406.09, and the S&P 500 24.90 to 1,317.93.

A New York Times report that Iran might halt oil production because of hostilities with Israel helped spur the price jump. Moody’s downgraded its rating of bond insurers MBIA and Ambac, sending nervous ripples through the financial world. "The perception” three months ago “was that the financials would start to turn things around by this point," said a Thomson Reuters analyst. "That turnaround hasn't happened."

  • For the week, the Dow fell 3.8%, the S&P dropped 3.1%, and the Nasdaq was down 2%.
(More Dow Jones stories.)

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