Stocks Plunge, Battle Back

Markets decline, but emergency rate cut moderates effect
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:38 PM CST
Stocks Plunge, Battle Back
U.S. flags adorn the facade of the New York Stock Exchange early Tuesday morning Jan. 22, 2008. U.S. stock futures seesawed Tuesday after the Federal Reserve, responding to a growing financial market crisis, slashed interest rates 0.75 percentage point.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)   (Associated Press)

Stocks declined today but ended the session up from the depths of their initial plunge, as the Fed's emergency rate cut seemed to calm freaked-out investors. "This at least gets people from piling in on the short side of things," one strategist told MarketWatch. The Dow fell 128.11 to 11,971.19, the Nasdaq 47.75 to 2,292.27, and the S&P 14.69 to 1,310.50.

"The markets are getting to reasonable valuations. Unfortunately, the trip there is very painful," said another analyst. Stocks took a massive dive as trading opened this morning, thanks to a worldwide plunge yesterday (when US markets were closed for the holiday). But financials, which took a hit in the morning, generally pared their losses and rallied later on, reports Bloomberg. (More markets stories.)

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