By Gina Gomez
New York, Feb 9, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Amidst concerns about the debt woes in Europe, for the first time in three months, the Dow Jones industrial average closed below the 10,000 mark on Monday. The stock market index dropped 103.84 points to 9,908.39, for the first time since the month of November. The stocks fell mainly owing to the shares of major financial institutions such as Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

Although the markets witnessed a 15 month high during mid-January, the markets went on a downhill following China’s declaration to contain economic growth and banking regulations proposed by the Obama administration. At the same time, the global financial system is facing a major threat owing to the escalating deficits in European countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal. This has led to investors attempting to comprehend the impact that the deficits of these economies can have on United States’ major financial organization, which might fall prey to huge losses depending on the foreign loans. Meanwhile, analysts have also reiterated that the Dow Jones’s fall below the 10,000 mark might not have implications on the future of the stock markets but it just might result in a more profound psychological impact on the Wall Street.

It is being presumed that the volatility in the market is expected to continue throughout this week as investors evaluate the implications of Europe’s debt scenario. Meanwhile, many investment strategists have highlighted the fact that the present economic scenario in various European countries reminds of the housing market collapse that United States witnessed and the subsequent crippling of the economy.