Dow Jones Plunges More Than 500 Points

Stocks Plummet Worldwide as Investors Show Concern About Slowing Growth, Inflated Equity Prices

On Tuesday, U.S. Stocks plummeted more than 500 points in a single day. According to market experts, the drop may be a sign of concerns about the slowing rate of business growth, worries that the price of equities has become too inflated, or fears of a possible recession on the horizon in the U.S.

The day saw heavy trading, and rapidly dropping prices. The trend started in the Chinese market and spread worldwide. China's Shangai Composite showed Chinese stock market rates dropping nearly 9 percent in a single day, as Chinese stocks suffered their worst single day sell-off in over ten years. This tumble, combined with a lackluster U.S. economic report, sparked worldwide stock drops. Shares in Europe dropped an average of 2.5 percent, and Latin American stocks dropped between 3 and 4.5 percent.

In New York, the Dow Jones fell 4.3 percent, falling more than a full percentage point in the first hour of trading. The market did regain some ground before the end of the day. After a small surge in the last hour before trading closed, the Dow closed 3.22 percent lower than it had opened.

The company with the biggest downward pull on the Dow today was Caterpillar Inc, the equipment manufacturer which does a large portion of its business in China. Caterpillar fell a full 2.6 percent. Other big drops included Nordstrom, Inc, which fell 5.3 percent after the chain of department stores released quarterly earnings figures that fell a penny short of analysts' forecasted average. However, not all companies on the Dow followed the downward trend. RadioShack Corp. shares rose a full 13.5 percent today, after its fourth quarter earnings showed a substantial rise in profit.