Dow Slumps 200, S&P Breaks Below 1500 on Italy Election Worries; Vix Soars 35%

CNBC ^ | 2-25

[ExxonPatrolUs]

Stocks kicked off the week with a big thud with all three major indexes dropping more than 1 percent across the board as investors remained concerned over Italy's election results. The S&P 500 broke below 1,500 and the Dow declined more than 200 points, retreating from its fresh multi-year high.

(Read More: Cramer: Market Bears Are Betting Against the Facts)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average [ .DJI 13784.17 -216.40 (-1.55%) ] tumbled more than 200 points, shortly after hitting a fresh multi-year high earlier in the session, dragged by Bank of America and Caterpillar.

The S&P 500 [ .SPX 1487.85 -27.75 (-1.83%) ] and the Nasdaq [ .NCOMP 3116.25 -45.57 (-1.44%) ] also ended near session lows.

Both the Dow and S&P logged their worst one-day drop this year.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, surged more than 30 percent to trade near 19, its biggest one-day percentage gain since last November.

All key S&P sectors were firmly in the red, led by financials and energy.

[rovenstinez]

I’d have the jitters if my fortune was in stocks. The USA can’t do much to help the other countries of the world. It’s going to be a long night for Mr. Obama to sort all of this out and start fixing things he promised to fix.

[zerosix]

Hey, the poor guy must be exhausted, fixing, fixing and fixing all our "problems."

He needs time to rest and recoup from all of his work.

How 'bout a game of, say, golf. Somewhere in the warm climate, with a few friends that would let him win, smoke and kick back and just relax.

To Hell with America and all her problems, the guy needs a break (keep those pesky WH reporters at bay too. They're way too pushy, wanting photo ops, etc.)

[proxy_user]

Mr Market is a strange fellow. In the morning, he knew that there was an Italian election today, and that the sequester was happening on Friday, but he went up anyway. Then, in the afternoon, it hit him.

I wonder how he’ll be feeling tomorrow? He could be up 200 points, or down by that much.

I only look at the price of the stocks I want to buy. If the price is good enough, then I act. Trying to guess what Mr Market is going to do next is a waste of time.