Wall Street Reacts To North Korea's Attacks: Dow Drops 142 Pts

Dow Falls 142 Points On Korean Worries


U.S. stocks were pummeled today, with the Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) briefly falling below 11,000, in the wake of North Korea's apparent shelling of a South Korean island.

The American slump followed the reaction of markets around the world to the Korean news. Three more worries weighed on stocks: whether Europe could contain the Irish debt crisis, a weak report on existing-home sales and a cut in the Federal Reserve's economic outlook.

The dollar, gold and silver all rallied as some investors sought safe havens for their cash.

The Dow closed down 142 points, or 1.3%, to 11,036, after dropping as many as 186 points early in the session. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) fell 17 points, or 1.4%, to 1,181, and the Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) was off 37 points, or 1.5%, to 2,495.

Gold settled up $19.90 to $1,377.60 an ounce in New York. Silver settled up 11.1 cents to $27.572 an ounce. Copper, however, settled down 4.9 cents to $3.7025 a pound.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was up 1.3% to 79.81. The dollar rose against the euro, British pound and the Japanese yen. The biggest gain was 1.7% against the euro.

Crude oil was down 49 cents to $81.25. Crude had fallen to as low as $80.28. early in the day.

The dollar's gain also pushed interest rates lower, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling to 2.762% from 2.813% on Monday.

Futures trading suggests a slightly higher open on Wednesday. The day includes reports on initial jobless claims and personal income and spending. Deere (DE) and Tiffany (TIF) will report quarterly results.

Jury: SAP owes Oracle $1.3 billion

After hours, a federal jury in Oakland, Calif., ruled that German software maker SAP (SAP) should pay $1.3 billion to rival Oracle (ORCL) for copyright infringement. Oracle shares jumped 1.3% to $27.54 after hours after dropping 3.1% to $27.19 in regular trading.

SAP had admitted liability for the actions of a now-shuttered SAP subsidiary called TomorrowNow.

TomorrowNow, which provided software maintenance and support to Oracle customers, illegally downloaded Oracle software and documents, infringing on 120 copyrights. SAP had argued its liability was $40 million. Oracle wanted $288 million to $3 billion. SAP, whose shares fell 1.4% after hours to $48.02 in New York, may appeal.


Sources: MSN Money, MSNBC