Thursday, January 21, 2010

Obama Speaks, Markets Tank

This guy really has the magic touch.
U.S. stocks fell as President Barack Obama outlined plans to impose new restrictions on banks, sending financial stocks reeling Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently down 182 points, or 1.7%, to 10422, after sinking as many as 219 points during Obama's speech. All of the Dow's components were in the red, with financial components J.P. Morgan and Bank of America the two worst performers, with J.P. Morgan down 4.8% and Bank of America down 5%.

The Standard & Poor's 500-index fell 1.5%, weighed by its materials and financials sectors. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 1%.

On track to close at their lowest levels of the year, stocks fell as Obama proposed new limits on the size and risk taken by the country's biggest banks.

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