Dow Nosedives as Markets Have Worst Week Since 2008

Hopes of two straight days of gains on Wall Street disintegrated Friday afternoon. Despite a decent start, the Dow turned negative and stayed that way, dropping more than 900 points, or 4.5%. The S&P 500 dropped a similar percentage as the markets had their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. The Dow fell 913 points to 19,173, the S&P fell 104 points to 2,304, and the Nasdaq dropped 271 points to 6,879.

Losses picked up noticeably after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced tough new restrictions designed to keep most state residents in their homes for the near future, notes the Wall Street Journal. "The markets are trading more on emotion than the actual data,” Sal Bruno of IndexIQ tells CNBC. "That’s what’s causing the volatility." In October 2008, the Dow fell 18.2% in a single week, notes the network. This week's losses fell just short of that. (More stock market stories.)