"People just don't know where the bottom is."
Tim Paradis –
AP – Feb. 19, 2009
The pillars of Wall Street are starting to seriously crumble.
And it just doesn’t get any better than this 
-- Ed.
An important psychological barrier gave way on Wall Street Thursday as the Dow Jones industrials fell to their lowest level in more than six years.
The Dow broke through a bottom reached in November, pulled down by a steep drop in key financial shares. It was the lowest close for the Dow since Oct. 9, 2002, when the last bear market bottomed out.
The blue chips' latest slide dashed hopes that the doldrums of November would mark the ending point of a long slump in the market, which is now nearly halfway below the peak levels reached in October 2007.
The market's inability to rally signals that investors see no immediate end for the recession, which is already 14 months old and one of the most severe in decades...
The Dow lost 89.68, or 1.2 percent, to end at 7,465.95...
Broader indexes also fell. The S&P 500 index ended down 9.48, or 1.2 percent, to 778.94. The index finished above its Nov. 20 close of 752.44, which was its worst finish since April 1997…
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In other news, Asian markets dropped early Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average losing 151.48 points, or 2 percent, to 7,406.17, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropping 321.49, or 2.5 percent, to 12,701.87. All after gnawing economic fears that sent Wall Street tumbling to its lowest close in more than six years.
Investors found precious few reasons to jump into the market after the Dow breached the levels it touched in November when the financial crisis sent global equities into a tailspin.
The Dow's worst finish since Oct. 9, 2002 -- spurred fears the markets' downturn is far from over. It also provided a clear sign that investors do not see an immediate end to the worst global slowdown in decades despite the unprecedented economic measures taken by governments around the world.
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