Wall Street selloff has markets reeling

October 6, 10:43 AMBusiness ExaminerDarrell Proctor

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Traders are selling on Wall Street.

That Wall Street bailout? It's taken on a whole new meaning today, with traders bailing out of the market.

The Dow Jones industrials dropped below 10,000 for the first time in four years; there was a nearly 500-point loss at midday, with the Dow trading below 9,850.

The reason? Investors around the globe realize the U.S. government's $700 billion financial rescue plan will not quickly unfreeze credit markets, and global banks are struggling with their own mortgage crisis.

So stocks are falling in Europe, Asia and the U.S. Investors now are putting money into U.S. government debt. There are fears of a global recession, and about the only good news for most folks is that oil has dropped below $90 a barrel.

"The fact is people are scared and the only thing they're doing is selling," Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research, told Associated Press. "Investors are cleaning out portfolios and getting rid of everything because nothing seems to be working."

The U.S. bailout passed Congress last week. Over the weekend, European governments moved to prop up failing banks there. Ireland, Greece and Germany said they would guarantee bank deposits.