Tech stocks tumble for a second straight day
The Dow Jones industrial average takes another wild ride, marking a second consecutive day it has ended the session below 10,000.
After a whiplash session on the markets a day earlier, investors were treated to another harrowing ride Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average plunging more than 500 points.
The steep sell-off seems to be partly a reaction to comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who issued a warning Tuesday that the economic malaise could very well continue through the next year.
At the end of the trading day, the Dow closed down 508.39 points at 9,447.11, marking its fourth-consecutive day of losses and a second day where the Dow ended below the 10,000 mark.
And the tech-heavy Nasdaq performed just as poorly, falling 108.08 points to end the session at 1,754.88. The S&P 500 also took a beating, ending the day down 60.66 points to 996.23.
In the tech sector, Microsoft closed down 5.98 percent to $23.42 a share; Cisco Systems was down 7.14 percent to $19 a share; Apple was down 8.9 percent to $89.41 a share; and Network Appliance took the largest hit with a 12.2 percent decline to $12.95 a share.
Meanwhile, the