Tuesday one of worst days on Wall Street this year

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tuesday is shaping up to be one of the worst days on Wall Street so far this year. It's news that doe not sit well with people in Charlotte.

The recession has already been tough enough on Cyi Taiga and her family. Her husband lost his job in technology.

"We ate up all our savings in the recession. In between getting jobs, we lost our house, we lost our savings, we lost everything," she said.

Taiga wasn't happy when we told her that stocks plunged today. Major indexes fell to their lowest levels since early September. The Dow alone sank 253 points to 13,093 in midday trading.

Major companies like Dupont, 3M, UPS, and Xerox all missed analysts' expectations for revenue.

"We look for the stock market to say, 'Hey are we doing better or are we not? Is it OK to start spreading the wealth around or should we keep conserving?'" said Taiga.

Economist John Connaughton isn't too surprised by today's numbers.

"Third quarter earnings are coming out, and they're reflecting what we expect. The third quarter was a lousy quarter," he said.

Connaughton said that's partly because Europe's economy is so weak right now.
He thinks this is all a precursor to a report on the GDP that comes out next week.

"My guess is that it's a 1-2 percent growth rate, a very anemic growth rate, and not where we want to be," Connaughton said.

Still, some believe that change for the better may come soon.

"There's a lot on hold I think until the election, and maybe some stability regardless of who wins, and if the right candidate wins, I think it will get better quickly," said Jeff Crane.

Dr. Michael Bitzer, a political science professor at Catawba College and Channel 9's political expert, said while the market is more concerned about earnings than the election environment, the market's instability could have a minor effect on the psyche of the last-minute deciding voter.

WSOC