Dow Drops Nearly 300 as Jobless Claims Jump

CNBC.com ^ | 05/20/10 | Staff

[OldDeckHand]

Stocks fell sharply Thursday after an unexpected spike in jobless claims and as global jitters pushed the dollar higher.

-snip-

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 300 points, or almost 3 percent, and the CBOE volatility index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, spiked more than 20 percent to above 43, its highest level in over a year.

[OldDeckHand]

Ruh-roh.

[CarWashMan]

“unexpected”

[rightwingintelligentsia]

There’s that word again.

[JimBobWay]

It has begun.

[allmost]

More naked shorts, yeah!

[taxcontrol]

I believe the next support test will down around 9,000. Because of that, I’m already 100% into bonds (TIPS).

[Siena Dreaming]

Been hearing that for over a year now.

[shadeaud]

Does this mean there will be a massive exodus back to mexico

[AngelesCrestHighway]

...And gold is not so hot either!.....

[NavyCanDo]

I think we are less than 200 points from where the DOW was at the “Fat Finger” crash.

[allmost]

One can only hope.

[kcvl]

http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=INDEXDJX:DJI

[KeyLargo]

[Grunthor]

One wonders how bad it will be by election day.

[screaminsunshine]

PPT will buy after Europe closes.

[ChinaThreat]

“I believe the next support test will down around 9,000. Because of that, I’m already 100% into bonds (TIPS).”

I would advise you be careful about being 100% in bonds. US T-Bonds will be good until the Euro finishes its collapse because we are the world’s reserve currency. But after reality catches up w/Europe, we are next. The first failed bond auction is where the crash really begins. Could be 2 weeks or 10 years. I don’t know. Just be careful about having all your eggs in one basket.

[GOPJ]

Dems will do what they can to artificially pump it up by election day - even if the “pumping” is the final bankruptcy straw...

[Grunthor]

My mom lost a lot of her retirement back in ‘08 and since then moved everything into gold and money markets.

Me? I’m stuffing my mattress.

[softwarecreator]

It has begun.

We've been hearing this every time the dow drops by more than 100 pts.

It seems to follow a weird pattern lately of dropping huge and then slowly creeping back up.  A few days ago it dropped almost 400 and by close it was at +30.

The bottom will fall, I agree, but it still seems to be consistently floating around the 15000 level.

[SmokingJoe]

Relax comrades. According to the 0bamabot Businessweek, 0bama has a “hot hand” and 0bamanomics is working just fine, because the stock market is on a winning streak.