The DOW falls below 9000 for the first time in 5 years! Where to next … that is a trillion dollar question on everyone mind I’m sure! Frankly we’re seeing the capitalist towers falling down, not slowly rotting away unchecked like over the last decade. Funny that, as a capitalist system cannot work without CAPITALs, and this is the dilema Wall Street found itself in.

• Dow Jones 8579 -679 -7.33%
• S&P 500 910 -75 -7.62%
• NASDAQ 1645 -95 -5.47%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost 679 points, for its the worst seven-session performance since the one that ended Oct. 26, 1987.

For Thursday’s session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 678.91 points (7.33%) to 8,579.19, its lowest close in more than five years and comparable to the 777-point decline of Sept. 29, the biggest point-decline of its history.

Trade was volatile again, with the Dow up more than 150 points at one stage.The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 75.02 points (7.62%) to 909.92. Both the S&P 500 and the Dow are off by more than 20% for October, comparable to the stock-market declines of October 1929 and October 1987.

The Nasdaq Composite shed 95.21 points (5.47%) to 1,645.12.

Fear indicators, such as the Chicago Board Options Exchange volatility index, hit all-time highs. The VIX is known as the market’s “fear gauge” because traders pay up for protection when nerves are jangled.

These falls came on the one-year anniversary of the highs of the Dow and the S&P 500. The Dow has lost 5,585 points, or 39.4%, since closing at 14,198 on Oct. 9, 2007. The S&P 500, meanwhile, is off 655 points, or 41.9%, since recording its high of 1,565.15.

In so far, the market had surpassed all previous falls bar the 1929 stock market crash.

Back then the DOW total lost was 77.9% which started on Oct 24th 1929 and ended on Aug 12th 1932. That was almost 3 years of pains and America had to endure a decade of depression. How will America, and in fact the world fair this time around? If we take 1929 crash as a point of reference then there are still be more of the same to come just yet! Braise yourself for the ride! We are not even half way through October yet.