Drudge Heralds ‘Market Violence’: Fear, Euro Weakens, Greek Riots Continue, Retail Disappoints

Dow Sheds 350 in Wild Selloff; VIX Tops 34

Cindy Perman, JeeYeon Park
CNBC News
May 6, 2010

Stocks staged one of the most dramatic selloffs in market history Thursday as what may have been a trader error exacerbated losses in a market already jittery about the European debt crisis.

The Dow ended down 347.80, or 3.2 percent, at 10,520.32, after being down as much as 998.50 earlier, the Dow’s biggest intraday drop on record. Treasurys surged.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Under current, New York Stock Exchange rules, if the market falls ten percent or more between 2:30 and 3:00 pm ET, trading is halted for 30 minutes. At its worst point, the Dow was down between 8 and 9 percent today.

The S&P 500 shed 3.2 percent, while the Nasdaq lost 3.4 percent. The CBOE volatility index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, was around 34 at the closing bell, after being above 40 earlier. The VIX ended last week around 22.

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This article was posted: Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 6:01 pm

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