On October 10, 2008 the Dow Jones dropped 697 points in the first six minutes of trading, rebounded to positive territory after the first half hour, then fell again and maintained a loss of several hundred points (up to 520) for most of the session. In the final half hour it rallied for a gain of 322 which it could not sustain, lurching negative, positive, negative, and finally closing 128 down.

It was the most volatile day in the 112 year history of the index, over a thousand points between high and low. And it followed six straight losing sessions for October 2008, including several daily drops of 500 - 700 points, during which the Dow lost 22 percent of its value.

This has been the worst week ever for the Dow, which closed at 8451, its lowest level since April 2003. On October 9, 2007, just a year ago, the index set an all-time high of 14165. Five years of gains have effectively been erased in the past year, with half of these losses coming in the last week.