Dow Drowns in Sea of Double-Dip Fears

Fresh signs of trouble for the global recovery and the Fed’s gloomier economic forecast rocked Wall Street on Wednesday, breathing new life into fears of a double-dip recession and sparking a 265-point plunge on the Dow. Wednesday’s Markets The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 265.42 points, or 2.49%, to 10378.83, the Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 31.59 points, or 2.82%, to 1089.47 and the Nasdaq Composite sank 68.54 points, or 3.01%, to 2208.63. The FOX 50 slid 20.23 points, or 2.50%, to 788.63. The steep selloff on Wall Street was a reflection of apprehension to hold riskier assets in the wake of disappointing economic data out of Asia, the Federal Reserve feeling the need to further boost the recovery and new data on U.S. trade deficits that suggest a downgrade of second-quarter gross domestic product. “We’re looking at a little bit of crisis of confidence at the moment. Clearly the rats are abandoning the ship,” NYSE trader Ted Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business. Economically-sensitive stocks such as U.S. Steel X, the technology sector and commodities such as copper suffered the brunt of Wednesday's selling, which ate into the markets' recent gains. In fact, the Dow and S&P 500 landed below their closely-watched 200-day moving averages, a bearish sign for stocks. Underscoring the worry on Wall Street, the VIX, or the markets' so-called "fear gauge," soared 13% on Wednesday to three-week highs. "The truth is that the numbers don't lie, and statistic after statistic shows that the economic fundamentals continue to get progressively worse," David Buik of BGC Partners in London, wrote in a note. Wednesday's selloff represented the Dow's seventh-steepest percentage decline of the year and left the benchmark index at its lowest level since July 22. Every single Dow stock closed in the red, led by Boeing BA, Alcoa AA and Cisco Systems CSCO, which reported weaker-than-expected revenue after the close. The index's best performers were defensive stocks Travelers TRV and Procter & Gamble PG. To read the rest, head over to FOX Business.