Thursday, 30 August, 2001, 18:44 GMT 19:44 UK Dow drops below 10,000
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen
below the 10,000 level for the first time in
nearly five months as US stock markets absorb
more gloomy news on the economy and from
US companies.
By 1944 GMT on Thursday, New York's key stock market index was down 220 points, at 9,870.
It last stood below the psychologically important 10,000 level on 12 April.
The Nasdaq technology stocks index fell even harder, losing 63 points to 1,780.
Consumers take fright
The stock market falls came after weak consumer spending data from the US Commerce Department showed the economy continuing to slow.
Consumer spending in July was a mere 0.1% higher than in June.
Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the US economy.
Making matters worse; more American people failed to pay their credit card bills in time in July, the credit rating company Moody's Investors Service said.
This was the eight month in a row when late payment rates increased on a year-on-year basis, Moody's said. The Dow Jones index's slide on Thursday followed falls of 3.2%, or 332 points, since the start of the week.
Bush warning
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was hit by a warning from Sun Microsystems, issued late on Wednesday, that it "could not count" on hitting its sales target - the latest in a string of such warnings from the technology sector.
On Wednesday, US President George W Bush cautioned that a US economic recovery was "very slow in coming".
He was speaking after revised figures showed the US economy had grown just 0.2% in the second quarter from a year earlier.
This was weakest growth rate since the first quarter of 1993.
The US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates
seven times this year in an attempt to
stimulate the economy, taking rates down to
3.5% from 6.5%.
-- Anonymous, August 30, 2001