Wall St.'s Wild Ride.

• Author: Vilbig, Peter
• Position: Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Should we be afraid now? After weeks of ups and downs, the U.S. stock market suffered its largest single-day loss in history on April 14, capping a week in which stocks lost $2 trillion in value. $2 trillion? That averages out to about $7,000 for every person in the United States.

Those losses were led by declines in the stock prices of high-tech and Internet companies--the same ones that in recent years have led the market...