Dow closes below 8,000; banks, automakers lead decline

November 19, 2:38 PMBusiness ExaminerDarrell Proctor

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Is that a dark specter hovering over Wall Street?

The prospects for a bailout of the U.S. auto industry continue to dim. And that continues to weigh on the stock market.

The Dow Jones closed below 8,000 today, losing nearly 430 points, as stocks sank and benchmark indexes finished at their lowest levels since 2003.

Citigroup hit a 13-year-low after the company said it had a plan to buy $17.4 billion of troubled assets. That heightened concern about the health of the nation's banks.

General Motors, meanwhile, hits its lowest price since the 1940s. Ford Motor Co. shares fell 25 percent.

Hideous day. It's hard to put a basement on this thing." - Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia, in a Bloomberg report

The S&P 500 fell to 806.58; the index has lost 45 percent this year. The Dow ended the day at 7,997.28. The Nasdaq lost 6.5 percent on the day.