U.S. Markets Plunge On Retail Sales, Beige Book Comments

New York, NY (AHN) - U.S. Markets opened Wednesday lower after the Commerce Department reported weak retail sales data for September. Selling accelerated late in the session when comments from the Fed's beige book showed economic activity weakening across the nation.

The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 733 points or 7.8 percent. All but one Dow component finished Tuesday lower. Coca-Cola was the lone riser after issuing quarterly earnings that topped estimates. Tuesday's loss puts the Dow Jones Industrials down 21 percent for the month of October.

The S&P 500 did not fare much better, suffering its worst one day percentage decline since the 1987 market crash. The index slid 90 points or 9 percent as 99 percent of S&P 500 stocks finished the session lower. Subsequently, all ten major economic sectors finished lower.

Tech sold off, with the Nasdaq Composite falling 150 points or 8.4 percent. Weakness was broad-based with both big-cap tech and semiconductor stocks falling more than 8 percent.

Crude oil fell $4.09 a barrel to $74.54 after OPEC cut its demand forecast. The energy sector felt the impact of the oil decline, falling 15.5 percent on Wednesday.

Before the market open, the Commerce Department reported a 1.2 percent drop in September retail sales. It was the largest monthly drop since the summer of 2005 and much larger than the 0.7 percent decline economists predicted.

Later in the session, the Fed's beige book was released. Their research shower deteriorating economic activity across all 12 regional districts it tracks. Striking further concerns the economy will suffer a deepening recession.

Thursday's session will see the release of initial unemployment claim for the week ending Oct. 11. The September consumer price index will be released as well.