Dow Jones in free fall; down 469.86 (-3.72%)

[TechBear_Seattle]

I have been watching the DJA for the last 15 minutes (I work for a brokerage firm) and it has dropped more than a 200 points during that time. The blame is being put on a vast sell-off in the Shanghai stock market. The US markets may be closing early as choke-points kick in. Normal closing is 4:00pm Eastern / 1:00pm Pacific.

Added: Intraday chart of DJA, courtesy of Microsoft Investor.

[Johonny]

1. I blame

the size of Al Gores house, DAMN YOU AL GORE!

[phantom power]

3. LOL!

:rofl:

[Jack Rabbit]

And I blame

G. W. Bush for squatting in Al Gore's house.

[SpiralHawk]

4. Get a clue: it's the Clenis

You haven't been paying sufficient attention
to republicon propaganda, have you?

Commander AWOL wants you to know:
it is not the fault of a connecticut preppy
member of an occult darkside cabal. Smirk Smirk,

[Quantess]

10. All the world's problems can be traced back to Clinton's penis.

[phantom power]

2. weren't we in this movie a few years ago with Japan?

[oldtimecanuk]

5. Damn, over 500 points down now... That's a correction alright...eom

ww

[mzmolly]

6. Oh no! Is Paris Hilton losing her fortune?

I kid, this is obviously not good. But, considering I'm arguing with a RW jerk and "friend" about record high poverty, I can only hope his Haliburton stock suffers as he blames the poor for being poor.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. No, because Halliburton is artificially propped up by the government.

It's the actual economy, where people buy and sell actual shit that other people want- and not the government welfare military-industrial complex economy- that this drop reflects.

[mzmolly]

15. That's a drag.

:(

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Well, the conservo-pundits are right, sort of. Big Government Welfare can be a bad thing.

But it's not about welfare queens eating bon-bons and drinking expensive vodka, it's about a half trillion a year in discretionary outlays for the Military-Industrial Complex. It's about a bullshit $40 billion a year drug war aimed primarily at pot smokers. It's about countless ways in which we're being ripped off by old-boy cronies, while American Industry flounders because our government is more interested in helping companies that make cluster bombs than in helping companies that make shit people might actually need or WANT.

Yep. A drag.

[mzmolly]

22. And free trade doesn't help matters.

:(

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Well, I think we need real free trade. There's a lot of different kinds of "free trade" out there.

Free trade with countries that use slave labor or have no environmental standards isn't "free".

[mzmolly]

31. Exactly. To my understanding NAFTA agreements are not being enforced?

Who knows how things would look if they were?

[Warren DeMontague]

32. I don't know all that much about it.

But knowing the crowd that's in charge, I'd wager we're being robbed blind.

Slightly off the subject, I recently watched this:

http://www.enronmovie.com/

Amazing. Should be required viewing for All Americans, certainly California residents.

[mzmolly]

36. Sounds like it's worth a watch.

Thanks for the tip. :hi:

[Warren DeMontague]

7. "Everybody's Buying? Then Sell, Sell!"

"Oh. Everybody's selling? Then Buy! Buy!"

[deadmessengers]

8. looks like it's flattening out now.

Up a bit over the last 5 minutes. That 200pt/5 minute drop may have been an abberation. We'll see over the next 40 minutes or so.

[deadmessengers]

9. up 30 in the last minute.

Either a dead-cat-bounce or some bargain hunting going on.

[deadmessengers]

16. up 100 from the bottom

Looks like a re-correction. Scary to see the market drop 500 and gain 100 in 12 minutes, though.

[TechBear_Seattle]

21. Yeah, I've been chatting with one of our traders

She pointed out that the Great Crash was a drop of just over 500 points, but that it represented more than 25% of the Dow's value at the time. Nowadays 500 points is barely 4% and little more than a bad hiccup. If it continues over several days, though, she would start to worry.

And yeah, it is starting to go back up as people shop for bargains. Still, it is kind of like watching a slasher pic.

[BluePatriot]

12. Do keep us posted

I saw on CNN the market controls were kicking in but they haven't updated on this loss yet...

[hfojvt]

13. wow it has really climbed in the last year

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/charts/chartdl.aspx?D5=0&CE=0&D4=1&ViewType=0&DateRangeForm=1&C7=2&ComparisonsForm=1&C5=2&ShowChtBt=Refresh+Chart&D3=0&C6=2007&Symbol=%24INDU&C8=2007&C9=0&DisplayForm=1&CP=0&PT=5

Seems to me like it's way too high. Then again, I am just a grumpy old bear.

[redqueen]

18. Maybe it's just correction time?

[bicentennial_baby]

19. Yep

:hi:

[redqueen]

20. Hi there...

:hi:

That's not a real quote in your sig there, is it? Hilarious!

[bicentennial_baby]

26. yes, yes it is

:D

[redqueen]

27. ahahahahahahaha

I liked him before... but I loves him now! :7

[bicentennial_baby]

29. Here's a link to it:

http://blog.ruhlman.com/2007/02/guest_blogging_.html

Freaking hilarious!

[redqueen]

35. Thanks!

[LaPera]

14. With two hours to go...get rid of all the suckers and it'll be on a

medium upswing (from the low of 500 plus points now)...probably will be down around 340 at the close.

[TechBear_Seattle]

23. Only about 40 minutes, not two hours

The US markets close at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific. (I had the incorrect info in the OP, but that's been corrected.)

[LaPera]

24. Still, the outcome will be about as I said.

[Yavin4]

28. Find Beeks! And Sell ! Sell ! Sell !

Every time one of these thigngs happens, I'm reminded of "Trading Places".

[Warren DeMontague]

30. He's in that ape suit.

Classic movie. Nice Al Franken (and Tom Davis) cameo, too.

[JerseygirlCT]

33. Don't they say these sorts of drops often precede an

attack?

Are they going to hit Iran?

[onenote]

37. who is "they" and when and where did they say it?

[JerseygirlCT]

38. Sure wish I could remember. I saw some financial expert being

interviewed. At the time, the market was up, and his contention was that there wasn't anything iminent WRT Iran, because the market's were strong. If something were about to happen, it would be reflected in the markets.

Sorry I can't remember who or when, but it jumped out at me when I saw the news about the markets today, especially in conjunction with the omnious news about Iran and potential attacks coming out of the middle east.

[wicket]

34. Jesus Christ!

:popcorn:

[Generator]

39. They get a bad day and get to close early-oh that so figures!

Whiners.