The dramatic falloff in share value was blamed on prominent companies in three key sectors. Ford Motors announced its profits for the year would come in sharply lower than expected. That forced the company to announce it would lay off 10% of its North American workforce, between 4,000 and 5,000 people. The GAP, one of the most actively traded companies, conceded its profits too would be lower than expected. The concern is that with the U.S. school year beginning soon, this is one of the busiest times of the shopping year. And Dell Computers added to the poor news when it confirmed decreased profits as well.


分别处于三大行业的几家大公司表现不佳，可能造成了股价暴跌。首先是福特汽车宣布今年的利润将比预测大大减少，这迫使企业将在北美公司裁员10%，约4000到5000人。GAP是家活跃的贸易公司，也已经承认今年利润将少于预期。可由于美国学校即将开学，将要迎来一年中的购物热潮，人们不禁产生担忧。同时，戴尔电脑也确认利润下降的事实。