Anxiety On The Street

It's official! The stock market is now suffering a "correction" sparked in part by the "R" word.

Fears of recession grew after the Labor Department said on January 4 that the U.S. economy generated just 18,000 jobs in December, the least since July, 2003, and the jobless rate rose to 5% from 4.7%.

Economists at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch declared that a recession had probably already begun. Even President Bush acknowledged that economic indicators had become "increasingly mixed," and talk of a stimulus package intensified.

By January 9, the S&P 500 had sunk more than 10% from its October high.

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