Wall Street had a wacky Wednesday as stocks took a roller coaster ride throughout the day. The Dow Jones dropped more than 550 points and S&P closed at its lowest in more than a year, according to Reuters. S&P dropped 9 percent this year.
U.S. oil prices plummeted to below $27 a barrel, levels not seen since 2003, USA Today reports, but bounced back later in the day.
"If you look at crude prices, they are shooting right back up," Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, said ahead of the close.
The Dow Jones ended 1.56 lower and the Nasdaq ended at 0.12 percent down. IBM shares fell over five percent, CBS News reports.
The drops have been part of a trend in the stock markets as fears about a slowing global economy continue, according to National Public Radio.
"There are economic factors, but today doesn't feel like it's economic. It feels emotional," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "I think investors have seen the declines and they've gotten to the point where they're just nervous, maybe a bit panicked, and you get this broad-based selling. It's very uncomfortable, but it happens. The markets at times are wildly euphoric and other times they're taken over by abject pessimism."
However, as investors dumped some stocks, they picked up gold and U.S. Treasury bonds, as gold was up 1.3 percent and bonds bumped nearly two percent, according to CBS News.
