Stocks tumble amid gloom

Two headlines at WSJ.com say it all: "Fear Gauge Spikes" and "Investors Dash for Safe Havens." When trading was over today, the Dow was down 265 points, and all 30 companies in the index were in the red. The three major indexes are now into negative territory for the year. Seems as if the Fed's discouraging view of the economy, laid out after its policy meeting yesterday, is starting to settle in - badly. From the WSJ:

"Yesterday was a bit of a game changer," said David Gilmore, a partner at Essex, Conn.-based Foreign Exchange Analysts. "The Fed's actions yesterday realigned the stars and changed the narrative from one where people were relatively confident that the recovery was intact and didn't require much of a policy response." Now, Mr. Gilmore said, investors were asking, "What does the Fed know that we don't?", adding that he expected the U.S. dollar to remain strong amid increased risk aversion.