Market Tumbles

The bear market found the Dow Jones industrial average. The Dow fell more than 3 percent in yesterday's trading, plunging below 10,000 for the first time in five months. The fall-off in Monday's trading – the previous day – had largely affected Nasdaq, with all its high-technology stocks, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index.

The 300-point Dow drop was considered more precipitous, even, than the last major one-day Wall Street stutter, in October 1987. The Nasdaq also tumbled, by nearly 43 points. It has fallen by more than 20 percent this year, and by nearly 61 percent from its all-time high nearly a year ago. The S&P 500 also fell, losing 31 points, or 2.6 percent.