over 140 points/about 7%

Prices on the New York stock exchange have suffered one of their biggest falls ever. In a sudden and unexpected development, the Dow-Jones Index fell by just over 140 points, or about 7%. It was the 3rd largest fall in the history of Wall Street. Most of it came in the last hour of trading. Before then, the stock exchange had been showing only minor losses. A BBC correspondent in New York says that the strong selling of American government bonds early in the day is believed to have been one reason for the fall. But he says there were other reasons. These included a belief that next week’s American trade figures would be bad and fears that interest rates would not decrease. The market was also affected by worries that the federal budget deficit would be higher than expected. Coinciding with a fall in prices on Wall Street, a presidential commission has sent a report to the White House on the stock market’s biggest ever crash on October 19 last year when the Dow-Jones Index fell by 508 points. The commission has made numerous proposals to regulate stock exchange trading. These include limits on the daily price movements of shares. The commission also wants a new high-level body to oversee the American financial markets and close them if necessary when trading is in danger of going out of control.