Dow Jones Index Drops 682 Points, Below 9000 Level for First Time Since 2003

The Dow Jones Industrial Average celebrated the 1-year anniversary of its all-time high with a 678 point loss on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Index closed below 9000 points for the first time since 2003, ending Thursday's market at 8,579.19, suffering a 678.91 drop, or 7.3 percent. 500 of the 678-point drop were lost in the last hour of trading/

Last year on this date, the Dow closed an all-time high of 14,164.53. Over the last year, the Dow Jones average has dropped 39.4%.

Since the U.S. House of Representatives passed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout crisis bill last week, the Dow Jones has dropped 18%.

The last time the Dow Jones closed below 9,000 was on June 3, 2003, when the Dow closed at 8,922.95. The last time the Dow was this low was on May 21, 2003 when it reached 8,516.43.

The S&P 500 retreated for a seventh day, losing 74.93 points, or 7.6 percent, to 910.01 to cap its longest streak of daily declines since 1996. The S&P has dropped 38 percent in 2008, its worst yearly performance since 1937.

The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 5.5 percent to 1,645.12. On the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), for each stock that posted a gain, 20 stocks suffered losses.