For the first time in over 11 years, the market dropped below the psychological 7,000 mark today, as investors continue to weigh concerns over a struggling financial sector, and worry over how deep and long lasting the current session is going to wind up being.

When the smoke finally settled this afternoon, the DOW showed a hefty 4.2% loss, closing all the way down at 6,763.29.  The NASDAQ also took a big hit today, giving back 3.99% in today’s trading to close down at 1.322.85.

We are now looking at a greater than 50% retraction in the major indexes since their historic highs set back in the summer of 2007.

Some analysts think that we are going to see the markets head down towards their 1995 levels. If that is the case, then you could expect to see the DOW drop down close to, if not under the 5,000 mark. Pretty scary thought.

The credit crunc, foreclosures, rising unemployment are the main culprits, and until we can see a stabilization in at least one of these areas, expect more downside. How much more downside remains to be seen, but for now the picture is definitely not looking too pretty.

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