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Stock Market Plummets as Japan's Nuclear Crisis Worsens

By DNAinfo Staff on March 15, 2011 1:44pm

By Mariel S. Clark

DNAinfo News Editor

MANHATTAN — The stock market fell sharply upon opening Tuesday as New Yorkers along with financial markets worldwide reeled in response to Japan's nuclear crisis, according to reports.

In early morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down nearly 300 points, the S&P 500 fell 23 points and the Nasdaq dropped 49. The Dow Jones has since recovered some, but was still down almost 200 points as of 1:30 p.m.

Japan's Nikkei index fell another 10 percent on Tuesday — when combined with Monday's losses the drop represents the country's worst two-day loss in more than 23 years, according to CNBC. European markets fell 3.5 percent.

The nuclear power plant crisis in Japan led to heavy selling as investors took their money out of riskier investments, the New York Times reported.

A financial specialist works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, March 15, 2011.
A financial specialist works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, March 15, 2011.
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AP Photo

"Investors are moving to the sidelines," Marc Chandler, a global currency strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman, told the Times. "They are selling the things they were buying and buying the things they were selling, like the dollar."

The shift has strengthened the dollar and U.S. Treasury bonds, the paper reported.

The deadly earthquake and resulting tsunami that hit Japan on Friday have sent markets into the decline. The earthquake damaged Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant leading to concerns about radiation and causing the worldwide economic slowdown.