Wall Street Sees Worst Sell-Off Since 2008 Financial Crisis as Dow Jones Sinks 500 Points

By Nicola Menzie , Christian Post Reporter

August 4, 2011|3:40 pm

It is not a Black Thursday, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average's continual plunge has been stoking fears among investors and hitting some of the hottest U.S. stocks hard.

At the close of the bell Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) had fallen about 512.76 points, or 4.31 percent, settling at 11,383.68. The loss managed to erase all of the DJIA's gains for the current year.

Economic and political turmoil have been keeping investors on shaky ground for days, with Thursday seeing the worst sell-off since the 2008 financial crisis.

Despite the passage of the U.S. debt bill and President Barack Obama signing it into law, investors are still concerned about the nation's poor economic outlook.

The economic situation in Europe is no better, as investors have expressed concern that the continuous debt crisis may spread to Spain and Italy.

Investors have been dumping troublesome stocks and snapping up stocks thought to be more reliable.

"This is a fear-driven market. We're in a mini-free fall. It's not a Black Monday, or Black Thursday, but it's in pretty bad shape--all the big stocks are being liquidated," Christian Thwaites, president and chief executive at Sentinel Investments, told the Wall Street Journal.

Some of the top shakers and movers in the DJIA feeling the pinch Thursday are listed below the latest price and percentage loss:

KFT - Kraft Foods Inc (33.94, -1.06%)
MC - Mcdonalds Corp (84.34, -1.40%)
TRV - Travelers Companies Inc (53.35, -1.60%)
PG - Procter & Gamble Co (59.60, -1.86%)
WMT - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (50.12, -2.26%)
T - AT&T Inc (28.82, -2.31%)
JNJ - Johnson & Johnson (61.89, -2.40%)
VZ - Verizon Communications Inc (34.97, -2.77%)
PFE - Pfizer Inc (17.39, -3.58%)
MSFT - Microsoft Corp (25.94, -3.64%)

Other leading stocks hit hard in today's trading:

GOOG - Google Inc (577.52, -3.93%%)
AAPL - Apple Inc (377.37, -3.87%)
GE - General Electric Company (16.47, -5.72%)
F - Ford Motor Co (10.85, -6.87%)
C - Citigroup Inc (34.82, -6.55%)

The market opened Thursday morning at 11,893.86, after closing the previous day at 11,896.44.

In the past 52 weeks, the DJIA has closed as low as 9,936.62.