Recession worries

• Lower commodity prices.
  
  Crude oil finished down 5.8% to $66.75 a barrel -- its lowest close since September 2007. Oil has fallen 55% since July and is down 30% on the year. Copper fell to $1.87 a pound -- its lowest close since November 2005; it is down 56% since peaking in early May. Gold was down 4.3% to $735.20 an ounce.

• A rising dollar.
  
  At least against Europe. The dollar was up 1.5% against the euro and 2.6% against the British pound. It was down 2.7% against the yen. The dollar has jumped nearly 10% against the euro in less than three weeks, reflecting concern that economies in Europe are weakening rapidly. But it will cut into profits for American companies with big presences in Europe. The reason: The value of profits in Europe will fall when converted into dollars.

• Recession worries.
  
  The disaster that has hit financial companies this year means enormous job cuts are ahead. Manufacturing is slumping in part because of the long-term housing slump. Plus, global turmoil is increasing. Stocks in Argentina fell more than 10% after the government announced plans to seize control of the country's 10 biggest pension funds.

• Crummy earnings. This began with disappointments from Boeing (BA, news, msgs), Merck (MRK, news, msgs) and AT&T (T, news, msgs). It ended with a weak guidance from Amazon.com that knocked the stock down 14% to $43.05 after hours.

• Hedge fund selling and mutual fund redemptions.This was visible in the uptick in trading volume that hit the market in the last hour of trading, especially between 3:20 p.m. and 3:40 p.m. ET. CNBC reported that at least two large hedge funds were cutting their holdings.

• A PR disaster in Washington. The nation's bond-rating companies added to the market's foul mood. At a congressional hearing, their top brass struggled to explain away e-mails that said the agencies would give anything a decent rating if the price was right. One Standard & Poor's analyst told a colleague the company would rate a deal even if it had been "structured by cows."