The Dow Is Falling, The Dow Is Falling

It was a tough day for the stock market today. On news that investment juggernaut Lehman Brothers was filing for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch was being sold to Bank of America, the Dow Industrial market index dropped over 500 points, its sixth largest drop in history.

Along with Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, AIG, the country's largest insurer, is looking to be on pretty shaky ground. It ended the day down 61%, worse than Wachovia's 25% drop, Morgan Stanley's 14%, or Goldman Sachs' 12%. Even Bank of America dropped 21% after its purchase. It's not a pretty day for the financial industry.

And of course, when the U.S. economy sneezes, the world catches a cold. European and Asian markets closed down 2.5 to 4 percent across the board, and even oil ended down $5, dropping under $100 even despite Hurricane Ike's effect on the industry to end the day at $96.