Confidence Lost: Dow Tumbles 250 Points as Investors Ask ‘What the Heck?”

A late day bounce reduced that the damage, but markets still got beaten up again leaving some strategists scratching their heads. The S&P 500 fell 1.2% to 1,829.08, its fifth consecutive loss, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 254.56 points, or 1.6%, to 15,660.18. The Nasdaq Composite finished off 0.4% at 4,266.84. The Dow Industrials had been down as much as 2.6% before a late day rumor of that OPEC was willing to start discussing production cuts gave the market a lift. Citigroup's Robert Buckland and team don't think we're in a bear market yet: