The Dow Jones industrial average fell 249.48 points, or 3.2 percent, to 7,613.73, eliminating the last of Tuesday's historic 380-point advance in a second day of steep declines. There were sharp sell-offs in markets around the globe, most ominimously in Brazil, considered by analysts and U.S. policymakers to be the key to stabilizing world financial markets.
"There are values there," said Larry Auriana, co-manager of the $4.5-billion Kaufmann Fund. "But there's no rush to jump in," he said, adding "the psychology is very bad and it could test a new low."
"The landscape is pock-marked with danger, whether it be political problems in the U.S. or turmoil in emerging markets," said Michael Clark, head of U.S. Trading for Credit Suisse First Boston. "I don't blame anybody for stepping back."
That uncertainty was underscored by unsettling news throughout the trading day. As investors grappled to understand the significance of independent counsel Kenneth Starr's report on President Clinton - in news beamed all day on screen monitors onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Brazil's stock market fell apart.
The finding by Merck & Co., published in today's edition of the journal Science, could give doctors the first entirely new way to treat depression in decades, offering hope to patients who get no help from today's therapies such as Paxil and Prozac.
''This is really very important,'' said Dr. Steven Hyman, director of the government's National Institute on Mental Health, who is familiar with the findings. ''To everybody's surprise, it (the new drug) was robustly effective for depression.''
The drug still needs more extensive testing in humans, however, before it would be eligible to receive government approval to be sold.
Depression is the nation's most prevalent mental health problem,
afflicting about 15 million Americans at some point in their lives. Americans spend about $3 billion a year on drugs to battle it. Those drugs do help many patients.
But they also can cause serious side effects. Also, some 20 percent of patients get no help from today's medicines.
Feeding cows grain, as most farmers do to fatten them up, encourages the growth of E. coli bacteria that are strong enough to sicken humans, according to new Agriculture Department studies conducted at Cornell University.
Feeding cows hay instead of grain for five days before they're slaughtered could virtually eliminate that risk, said USDA microbiologist James Russell.
09-11-98
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