Photograph of job seekers outside a Monster.com job fair in midtown by Kathy Willens/AP
The Dow tumbled 411 points (down 4.73%) while the Nasdaq fell 5.17% and S&P 500 fell 5.19%. According to the NY Times, "Wall Street spent the day looking at Washington for guidance, and investors did not like what they saw, analysts said."
The chief economist at Moody's, Marc Zandi, further explained, “Wall Street is increasingly taking its cues from D.C. Policymakers are deciding who survives and who doesn’t.” And, therefore, when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson explained the change of plans for a chunk of the bailout money, investors weren't so happy! Of course, there was other bad news: Home values fell for the seventh quarter in a row, Goldman Sachs fell over 10%, and Best Buy fell 8% after slashing its profit forecast and warning about a "seismic" slowdown in spending.
And many businesses are seeing a surge in applications for part-time help for the holidays, though many businesses are trying to cut down on expenses.
