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The Dow and S&P 500 hit its lowest mark for 2011 on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) fell 280 points, or 2.2%.
The S&P 500 lost 31 points or 2.3%.
The NASDAQ composite fell 66 points or 2.3%.
The declines were the worst since last August.
Late trading was rattled further on news that Greek’s debt crisis has gotten far worse. Moody’s cut Greece’s bond rating by three notches to Caa1.
"Weak economic data has started to snowball," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial. "Initially, we just had bad news from the weekly jobless claims data, but now we're starting to see a broad-based economic slump."
"The first trigger for today's downgrade is Moody's view that Greece is increasingly likely to fail to stabilize its debt ratios within the timeframe set by previously announced fiscal consolidation plans," the ratings agency said in a statement.
As of press time, 58 percent of the betting public believes that the Dow Jones will close at 12500 or lower by year’s end.
34 percent of the betting market had Standard and Poor’s rating Greece in default by year’s end.
• Dow Jones to close ON or ABOVE 11750 on 31 May 2011 - 95 percent chance
• Dow Jones to close ON or ABOVE 12250 on 31 May 2011 - 83 percent chance
• Dow Jones to close ON or ABOVE 12500 on 31 May 2011 - 34 percent chance
*All odds found at intrade.com
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
