Posted on 06/24/2002 7:49:52 AM PDT by RCW2001
LISA SINGHANIA, AP Business Writer
Monday, June 24, 2002
©2002 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/06/24/national1028EDT0543.DTL
(06-24) 07:28 PDT NEW YORK (AP) --
The stock market extended its slump Monday, pulling the Nasdaq composite index beneath the low it reached following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
In the first hour of trading, the technology-dominated Nasdaq fell to 1,422.86, below the 1,423.19 it closed at on Sept. 21, the end of the first week of trading after the attacks.
The drop below that post-Sept. 11 milestone was inevitable in a stock market depressed for weeks by bleak corporate earnings prospects, accounting scandals and the possibility of more terrorism. On Monday, reduced outlooks in the technology sector and more questions about corporate integrity added to the market's slide.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index was still about 16 points away from its Sept. 21 low of 965.80, while the Dow Jones industrials were 967 points above their post Sept. 11 close of 8,235.81.
The Nasdaq's drop brought it to its lowest levels since October 1998.
Technology stocks have been particularly hard-hit by the continuing market malaise. With the economic recovery less robust than investors had hoped for, companies in a variety of industries have cut back their purchases of high-tech equipment and software.
It had been expected that tech would lead the stock market to a recovery, but as that expectation proved to be false, investors have punished the sector in particular.
Stocks rebounded from their Sept. 21 lows by early November amid optimism about an economic recovery taking place in the first half of 2002. But as it became clear that a recovery would be delayed -- and weaker than hoped -- stocks began to give back their gains.
The drop accelerated since mid-May, taking the major indexes closer to their late September lows.
©2002 Associated Press
The bloated real estate market is next. The REITs won't help you.
In a world where CEOs and their accounting firms can lie for half a decade and get away to the Bahamas scott free, this drop certianly was inevitable.
And it's inevitable that the Daschles and Gephardts will ride the populist backlash against these bahama tax vacations to push more FDR style socialism whrough congress which Bush will sign now, or Hillary in a few years, thus creating even greater corporate flight out of the U.S.
BTTT
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.