Dow Falls 678 to Sub-9,000 Close

Stocks plunged in the last hours of trading today as a number of government moves did little to shore up investors' confidence, MarketWatch reports. The Dow’s losses accelerated sharply after it dropped below the psychological threshold of 9,000 points. It closed down 678.91 at 8,579.19; the Nasdaq lost 95.21, closing at 1,645.12, and the S&P 500 fell 75.02 to 909.92.

GM and Ford both saw heavy declines, but, unsurprisingly, financials paced losses, with Wachovia down 21.7% and AIG off 23.2%. The Treasury is planning to buy ownership stakes in banks, while the Fed said it would lend $37.8 billion more to AIG, but as with yesterday’s unprecedented global rate cut, the markets didn’t seem impressed.
(More Dow Jones stories.)