Dow Has Worst One-Day Point Drop Ever

N E W   Y O R K, Sept. 17 -- It was a bitter return for U.S. financial markets today, with the bellwether Dow industrials badly battered, suffering their worst one-day point decline ever.

Today was the first trading day six days after terrorist attacks left Wall Street and the nation badly shaken. The resulting closure was the longest on the New York Stock Exchange since the 1930s.

The high point may have been the opening bell, subsequent two minutes of silence and a singing of "God Bless America." Immediately after the last note faded, traders pushed blue chips down dramatically and the blue chip index never recovered.

Even an emergency half-point interest rate cut was brushed off by traders.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down around 684.81 points at 8,920.70 — the biggest one-day point loss ever, beating the previous record one-day drop of 617 points, set last April. Percentage-wise, the 7.12 percent drop seemed less painful, failing to break into the top 10 biggest percentage declines. Volume hit a record 2.4 billion shares.

The biggest losers on the day: airlines, major insurers face tens of billions of dollars in claims after last week's attacks, as well as financial services, travel and hotels, and retail stocks. The biggest winners: defense and security stocks.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 53.77 points, or 4.92 percent, to finish at 1,038.77 and the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index sank 115.82points, or 6.83 percent, to 1,579.55. Both indexes were thelowest since mid-October 1998.

Midway through the day, as the market tumbled, President Bush publicly expressed his "great faith" in the U.S. economy, which he said is still poised for growth despite last week's attacks.

"I understand it's tough right now. Transportation, business is hurting, obviously the market was correcting prior to this crisis. But the underpinnings for economic growth are there," Bush told reporters at the Pentagon.

Shaky Start Expected

Trading was hardly expected to be business as usual. Many experts were predicting that already shaky financial markets would lose further ground as the damage inflicted on the psyche of the American people filters its way into the economy and the stock market, further undermining the confidence of consumers and investors.