Stocks fell sharply on Thursday, as more corporate earnings warnings and massive layoffs piled atop deep economic and military uncertainties plaguing investors since last week's air attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon ( news - web sites ) outside of Washington.
Selling persisted for a fourth day since the market reopened after the devastating Sept. 11 terror attacks on the twin towers.
Wall Street, mourning the likely loss of nearly 6,000 people at the Trade Center just three blocks from the New York Stock Exchange ( news - web sites ), has pushed the major stock indexes down more than 10 percent to new three-year lows this week.
The Dow Jones industrial average ( DJI - news ) tumbled 382.92 points, or 4.37 percent, to end at 8,376.21, the seventh largest point drop ever. It was the lowest close for the Dow since October 1998. On Monday, the Dow fell nearly 690 points, the biggest ever point loss.
The Nasdaq composite ( IXIC - news ) plunged 56.87 points, or 3.72 percent, to 1,470.93, its lowest finish since also since October 1998, and the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index ( SPX - news ) fell 31.56 points, or 3.11 percent, to 984.54.
"Anyone who bought yesterday looks like a moron today. And if you buy today, you're worried you're going to be looking like a moron tomorrow," said Dominic Freud, head of European trading at S.G. Cowen in New York. "The likelihood of looking like an idiot next week is quite high."
Applied Materials Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT - news ), the leading microchip equipment maker, joined a long list of other companies such as airliner American Airlines and publisher The Tribune Co. (NYSE: TRB - news ) in dishing out bleak news.
U.S. Federal Reserve ( news - web sites ) Chairman Alan Greenspan ( news - web sites ) told Congress that the attacks will damage the economy in the short-term by making Americans fearful of the future but won't dampen bright long-term prospects. The central bank has cut interest rates eight times this year to buoy the economy.
"What we're seeing here is a continued uncertainty in the market, lack of institutional buying," said Uri Landesman, chief investment officer with AFA Management Partners. "And so people are just waiting and seeing what happens here; What the (U.S.) response is going to be like? Are there going to be any more terrorist attacks?" 
