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WPostStocks Tumble as Recession Appears to Worsen
By Tomoeh Murakami Tse and Alejandro Lazo
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 17, 2009; 5:07 PM
Heightened concerns about a deep and prolonged global recession lead to a sharp decline in stock markets around the world today, with the Dow Jones industrial average approaching lows reached during the tech bubble crash seven years ago.
The picture was ugly, with investors everywhere -- from Hong Kong to San Paulo to London participating in the sell-off. Instead, the investors fled to safe-haven investments such as U.S. Treasuries and gold, sending those prices sharply higher.
With all but one of its stocks in the red, the Dow closed down 297.81 points, or 3.8 percent, to 7,552.60, within 300 points of the market bottom on Oct. 9, 2002. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, a broader market measure, lost 4.6 percent to close at 789.17. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 4.2 percent, to 1,470.66.
The plunge came despite President Obama signing the $787 billion economic stimulus package, highlighting investor concerns about just how effective the package will prove. Investors are also worried about the Treasury Department's plans to clean up billions of dollars in toxic troubled mortgage assets from the balance sheets of major banks. Financial stocks lead the market lower Tuesday, with Bank of America, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase each declining by 12 percent.
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