On Friday, Oct 10 2008, U.S. stocks fell the eighth straight day, its longest-losing streak since 2002. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded the biggest intraday point swing ever in history in a whipsaw session of a 1000 point swing. The S&P 500’s eight-day losing streak is the longest since 1996.

As fears escalated that the trauma in the credit markets could pave the way to a global recession. The Dow posted the steepest weekly slide in its history and the S&P 500 capped its worst week since 1933.

The Dow recovered from a 697-point tumble and gained as much as 322 points in the last trading hour but still lost 128 points or 1.5%, to 8,451.19. The S&P 500 slipped 10.7 points, or 1.2%, to 899.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 4.39 points to 1,649.51.

Friday’s declines bring the Dow’s loss for 2008 to 36.3% which is worse than 1937’s 32.8% decline. The S&P 500 is now down 38.8% for 2008, also the worst drop since 1937. And the Nasdaq has lost nearly 37.8% this year.

The S&P 500’s breathtaking 18.2% week drop was the second-worst ever. It was just behind the 18.6% decline for the week ending July 21, 1933, during the Great Depression. The markets still have a ways to go to beat the worst year of the 1931’s Great Depression, when the Dow fell 52.7% and the S&P 500 plunged 47.1%.

The CBOE Volatility Index, market’s fear gauge, has tripled since the beginning of September climbed to a fifth-consecutive record to above 70, a level never seen before.

Despite the U.S. and other countries have taken a series of radical actions including unprecedented coordinated interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks, fear has intensify to a worldwide panic sell-off. Nothing much left to be done except praying and hoping for the best to turn around.

European and Asian major indexes posted their worst weekly drop on record as exchanges in Russia, Indonesia and Ukraine suspended trading in an effort to halt a global rout that has wiped out $25 trillion from global equities this year.

“Wall Street, with its army of brokers, analysts, and advisers funneling trillions of dollars into mutual funds, hedge funds, and private equity funds, is an elaborate fraud” - Michael Lewis

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