Dow Ends 3.2 Percent Lower After Brief 9 Percent Drop

Yikes.

Markets Plunge, Then Stage a Rebound

By CHRISTINE HAUSER
For a short time Thursday afternoon, Wall Street returned to the tumultuous days of 2008.

In a moment of uncontrolled selling, major indexes fell nearly 9 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled more than 550 points in about five minutes, falling almost 1,000 points on the day. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and the Nasdaq followed suit. Computer programs intensified the selloff as markets fell through trading limits.

And then, almost as quickly, the markets recovered most of the decline.

At the close, the Dow was down 347.80 or 3.2 percent, to 10,520.32. The S.&P. dropped 37.75 points, or 3.24 percent, to 1,128.15, and the Nasdaq was down 82.65 points, or 3.44 percent, to 2,319.64.

One Dow component, Procter & Gamble, plunged from above $60 to $39.37 before bouncing back to close at $60.75, down about 2 percent on the day. The sharp drop in P.&G. stock was being investigated for indications of an errant trade that might have helped precipitate the frenzy.

Another company, the consulting firm Accenture, saw its shares momentarily plummet from above $40 to pennies before rebounding. Nasdaq said later that it would void trades in which a stock moved more than 60 percent from its price at 2:40 p.m.

The day’s uncertainty pushed the euro to its lowest level in 14 months, slipping to $1.2529 to the dollar at one point. The dollar’s rise sent commodities prices lower. Crude oil fell $2.81 to $77.16 a barrel.

“I wish I had a definitive answer,” said William Fitzpatrick, an equities analyst at Optique Capital Management. “I think the information from Greece and Europe continues to get worse and that is what is weighing on investors.”