The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 512 points Thursday, erasing this year’s market gains, but the White House had little to say besides “markets go up and down.”
“I don’t have a specific reaction to the market. Markets go up and down,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.
“There is no question that we have — this economy has faced headwinds this year, a variety of them including the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the increase in oil prices, energy prices that resulted from the unrest in the Arab world and the situation in Europe, also,” Carney said. “So, our focus has to be on the things that we control which is to take the necessary measures.”
Today’s 4.31 percent drop put the Dow below 11,500 and is the worst one-day loss since October 2008, when the Dow slid by 679 points.
But the stock market also did something it hasn’t done in more than 33 years: decline for nine straight sessions. Today’s drop is the worst since Feb. 22, 1978, when Jimmy Carter was president.
Tomorrow the Obama administration will release its job creation and unemployment figures for July.