Dow Closes Below 10,000 Mark
N E W Y O R K, March 14 -- How low will the Dow go?
Almost exactly two years to the day after the Dow Jones average of industrial stocks first reached the symbolic 10,000 level, it closed under that mark today, again losing more than 300 points in the middle of a disastrous week for investors.
Continuing Monday's wipeout on Wall Street, the Dow ended the day at ended the day at 9,973.46, down 317.34 from Tuesday's close.
The nation's best-known market indicator has thus dropped below a level that once represented the seemingly inevitable upward movement of stock prices. And some analysts say the carnage could continue.
"I wouldn't be surprised at all," says Bill Meehan, chief market analyst for Cantor Fitzgerald, a Manhattan-based trading and research firm.
"You're looking at valuations that are still pretty lofty," concurs Sam Stovall, senior investment strategist for Standard & Poor's.
The Dow opened today at 10,290.80, but quickly plummeted in early trading and after a brief morning rally spent much of the day on the short side of 10,000.
And the index is down nearly 700 for the week, following Monday's whopping 436-point drop.
It is the first time the Dow has closed under 10,000 since Oct. 18, 2000. While the figure may have seemed out of sight to market analysts several years ago, investors have taken it for granted over the last two years.
Then: 'A New Bull Market'
When the Dow first reached 10,000 on March 16, 1999, traders hollered and paused from their activities for a round of applause.
At the time the Dow hit five figures, the economy was booming and market analysts were flush with optimism.
"We are in a new bull market," declared Ralph Acampora, chief technical analyst of Prudential Securities, in March 1999. "This could be the start of a 'mega-market' lasting 12 to 15 years, similar to the boom markets that followed the First and Second World Wars."
Indeed, with the markets still in the midst of a sensational run, the Dow, an index of 30 leading industrial companies, reached its highest close ever on Jan. 14, 2000, at 11,722.98.
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