Dow falls 634.76 points, global markets stumble

Story from The Takeaway. Listen to audio above for full report.

The markets started off jittery yesterday and throughout the morning they just kept dropping. Later in the afternoon President Obama made an attempt to reassure Americans. During a statement at the White House he said, “Markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America. No matter what some agency may say, we’ve always been and always be a triple A country.”

Despite the speech, stock markets kept falling yesterday, witnessing drops reminiscent of the great economic collapse of 2008 that the world has still yet to recover from. The S&P 500 saw all of its stock fall and the Dow Jones industrials fell 634.76 points, the sixth worst drop in over a century.

The nosedive continues this morning as Asian markets opened in a free fall before stabilizing a bit and closing with losses ranging from 2 to 5%. European markets are stumbling again and it looks to be a precarious day on Wall Street. Investors worldwide are searching for the bottom as almost $8 trillion dollars have been erased from the global stock markets in the past two weeks.

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“The Takeaway” is a national morning news program, delivering the news and analysis you need to catch up, start your day, and prepare for what’s ahead. The show is a co-production of WNYC and PRI, in editorial collaboration with the BBC, The New York Times Radio, and WGBH.