(October 15, 2008)-- The Dow dropped more than 700 points Wednesday at the end of another bad day on Wall Street.
The negative tone was set before the opening bell when the government reported a bigger-than-expected decline in September retail sales.
In addition, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said a broad economic recovery will take time.
Based on preliminary data, the Dow fell 733 points, or 7.9 percent, to 8,577.
It was just last month that the index lost nearly 778 points, which was a record one-day point loss.
The S&P dropped 90 points to 907.
The Nasdaq composite lost 150 points to 1.628.
Declining issues topped advancers by a 9-1 margin.
Volume on the NYSE came to 6.2 billion shares.
Nasdaq volume was 2.5 billion shares.