Dow Plunges 980, Then Rebounds

The Dow was in freefall today as protests again roiled Greece. Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Athens after lawmakers approved drastic austerity cuts needed to secure international rescue loans worth $140 billion. Fears over the debt crisis helped send the Dow plunging to nearly 1,000 points in the red just before 3pm, notes the Wall Street Journal. It quickly rebounded and was down about 500 more recently. It's unclear at this point what else contributed to the seesaw.

The Greece protest followed violent street protests yesterday that left three people dead after a bank was firebombed. In parliament, lawmakers voted 172-121 to approve the cuts that will slash pensions and civil servants' pay and further hike consumer taxes."Today, things are simple," said the prime minister. "Either we vote and implement the deal, or we condemn Greece to bankruptcy." (More Greece stories.)