Financial Expert Says Don't Panic After Dow Jones Sees Historic Drop
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- On Monday, the Dow Jones experienced its largest ever single-day point decline.
The big board dropped more than 1,100 points, or about 4.5 percent.
At one point it was down 1,600 points.
After starting the year strong, last week was the worst week on Wall Street in two years, and the decline continued Monday.
"Really what happened today was we gave back a lot of the gains we got from the beginning of the year," said Justin Halverson.
Halverson saw a drop coming last Friday. He's with Great Waters Financial in Minnetonka, and he says part of the plunge is driven by the threat that interest rates could rise.
"I think computer-driven trading is a part of it as well. There was a big dip last Friday and there's certain points that if the market falls to a certain level, the computer program just automatically says to sell, which is why we saw a very big dip today," said Halverson.
Experts said it was an overdue day of selling on Wall Street. And it led to the worst day for stocks since 2011.
"We all knew there was a correction coming at some point. Whether this is a major correction like the one that happened in 2008, or if it's just a healthy, standard correction that happens as a part of normal market cycles, time will certainly tell. Certainly no one is fully surprised by it," said Halverson.
Which is why Halverson is recommending that people not panic and stick to their financial game plans.
"Makes you want to consider selling some stocks to take care of some of the anxiety that you have," said John Roti of Wayzata.
But Roti said he won't do that. Like his financial planner is recommending, he's staying the course.
"Not worried at all. I believe it's just a correction in the market," said Roti.
President Trump, who has taken credit for a strong stock market this year, did not comment directly today on the DOW.
But the White House released a statement, saying, "The President's focus is on our long-term economic fundamentals, which remain exceptionally strong, with strengthening US economic growth, historically low unemployment, and increasing wages for American workers."
