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Recession fears kept bears roaring today, as the Dow shed 230 points at the open on a spate of lousy third-quarter results. Wachovia posted a staggering $23.9 billion loss to lead a group of five gloomy blue chip reports, the Wall Street Journal reports. “We’ve seen a range of poor results lately,” said one market watcher, “and there is no reason why this is not set to continue.”

The S&P and Nasdaq lost 2.6% and 1.5% respectively. International indexes followed the same downward trend, with the Nikkei sliding 6.8%. The dollar surged, particularly against the euro and pound, while oil dropped $2.45 to less than $70 a barrel. Not all the earnings were dire, however; Apple reported a 26% jump in income, sending shares up 9.3%. (Read more markets stories.)