Financial News

Stock Market Just Had One of Worst Christmas Eves Ever

Dow plunges 650

By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, Dec. 24, 2018.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

So much for the Santa rally on Wall Street.
The stock market tanked again Monday in a short trading day, making for one of its worst Christmas Eves on record, per the Washington Post. The Dow fell 653, or 2.9%, to 21,792; the S&P 500 fell 65, or 2.7%, to 2,351; and the NASDAQ fell 140, or 2.2%, to 6,192. The day's selloff worsened after President Trump took to Twitter to blast the Fed as "the only problem our economy has," notes the Wall Street Journal. The bleak numbers also came after Treasury chief Steven Mnuchin tried to soothe the markets before they opened, but his reassurance might have backfired.

“We’ve gone through situations before where it’s absolutely normal for the secretary of Treasury to reach out to the private sector,” Quincy Krosby, a chief market strategist at Prudential Financial, tells the Journal. “But what’s bad is this made the papers, and says the government is very worried. ... It’s almost as if gravity is pulling this market toward a lower level before it bottoms out.”