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On October 24 2003, the Dow closed at 9,582.46. It was the last time the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 9,600. Today, it revisited that territory when it plunged 753 points to 9,572.08, and came within striking distance of its biggest one-day point decline from last week -- 778.

While last week blue chips suffered from fears Congress wouldn't pass the bailout package, this week stocks plunge despite the approved -- and enlarged -- rescue plan. As the global financial crisis deepens, its effects cascade to more areas and over more industries.

Fears of a global economic slowdown further aggravated mood on the Street and markets are seeing stocks in a free-fall. It seems that realization has hit for how long it would take for the bailout to allow some relief, how long it would take for the housing market to recover, while all along economic fundamentals such as the job market are deteriorating.

All 30 of the Dow's components were in the red, with Alcoa (NYSE: AA) taking the dubious title of the Dow stock that's declining most -- down over 12%. Following closely are Citigroup (NYSE: C), American Express (NYSE: AXP) and Boeing (NYSE: BA) -- each down more than 10%.

The Nasdaq composite is meanwhile down nearly 160 points, or over 8%, to 1,787. The S&P 500 down nearly 7.5%, or over 81 points to 1,016.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 336.43 points, or 3.26%, to below 10,000 -- 9988.95 -- for the first time in four years, since Oct. 29, 2004. Similarly, the S&P 500 dropped 3.66% and the Nasdaq declined 3.97%. As investors looked for safety they sold stocks and piled into government bonds.

As expected, Wall Street joined a global selloff today as the financial crisis seemed to have deepened, especially in Europe. In addition, fears of a global economic slowdown dampened investors mood further. The expected boost from the $700 billion bailout plan approved Friday was non-existent as the weekend was full of news from Europe regarding the cascading financial crisis.

The financial crisis and the economic slowdown are now hitting the next set of stocks like Aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) -- down about 8% -- or Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) -- down over 5% -- both companies expected to have difficulties either accessing funds or suffer from the global economic slowdown, or both. News of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) -- down 5.5% -- laying off over 1,000 employees didn't help, only served as a reminder of the bad employment numbers from Friday and the expected worsening conditions in the jobs market.

Shares of sports shoes and apparel giant Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading up over 5% after hours today, following strong earnings for its fiscal first quarter.

As I noted in my earnings preview earlier this week, Wall Street was looking for 92 cents earnings per share for Nike's first fiscal quarter. The company surprised to the upside with a reported EPS of $1.03 a share. While this is down year-over-year from the $1.12 EPS it reported last year in the first quarter, it was still a good quarter considering the current economic environment.

Revenues grew nicely for Nike in the quarter, up a very respectable 17% to $5.4 billion. This also came in above analyst estimates of $5.19 billion.

One aspect of the company's overall business I discussed in the preview was that last quarter the company was able to overcome weak U.S. sales numbers by posting strong growth in international markets. This quarter, too, a weak U.S. dollar has helped boost sales in India and Asia, in particular China, where the recent summer Olympic games were held.

The market has been waiting for billionaire investor Warren Buffet's investment company Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) to invest in a financial firm, and Buffet announced yesterday that he would invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).

The $5 billion will be used to purchase perpetual preferred stock bearing a 10 percent annual interest rate.

The move comes as Goldman is looking to raise $7.5 billion worth of fresh assets. In addition to the initial $5 billion investment, Berkshire also will be receive warrants to purchase an additional $5 billion worth of common stock in the company for $115 a share. The stock closed yesterday's trading at $125.05, and has jumped nearly 7% in after hours trading following this afternoon's announcement.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama today sharply criticized the pay packages given to the departing chief executives of Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).

Obama told reporters that he wrote letters to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart stating that "it would be unacceptable for executives of these institutions to earn a windfall at a time when U.S. Treasury has taken unprecedented steps to rescue these companies with taxpayer resources," according to CNBC.

He's absolutely right.

Yes, I realize that compared with the fallen CEOs of Wall Street, the pay packages are chump change. Fannie Chief Executive Daniel Mudd is 'only' getting around $9.3 million and his counterpart at Freddie Mac Richard Syron stands to receive $14.1 million. But just because Mudd and Syron are getting less than 10% of the $160 million parting gift awarded to Stan O'Neal for ruining Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER) does not make them any less egregious.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC and Deloite & Touche LLP had a ring side seat to the collapse of Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) which may cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. The two auditing firms have some serious explaining to do to taxpayers and members of Congress.

According to the New York Times, advisers to the U.S. Treasury Department found that Freddie's accounting methods overstated its financial cushion.

"The company had made decisions that, while not necessarily in violation of accounting rules, had the effect of overstating the firm's capital resources and financial stability," the paper said. "Indeed, one person briefed on the company's finances said Freddie Mac had made accounting decisions that pushed losses into the future and postponed a capital shortfall until the fourth quarter of this yearwhich would not need to be disclosed until early 2009." Fannie Mae used the same methods, though, apparently not as aggressively as Freddie Mac.

A spokesman for Freddie Mac's auditors, Pricewaterhouse, did not immediately return an email seeking comment. In its letter to shareholders filed with the 2007 annual report report, PwC noted that Freddie Mac had changed some accounting policies. It elected to offset the amounts of some derivative contracts as of October 1; elected to measure newly acquired interests in securitized financial assets that contain embedded derivatives at fair value as of January 1, 2007; changed its method for accounting for uncertainty in income taxes as of January 1; changed the method for accounting for defined benefits plans as of December 31, 2006, changed its method for determining gains and losses on sales of certain guaranteed securities as of October 1, 2005

That's quite a bit to keep track of, no? I am sure Congressional investigators will want more detail about why these policies were changed.

Fannie Mae, whose former chief executive Franklin Raines was ousted in 2004 following another accounting scandal, paid Deloitte $49.3 million in fees in 2007. The firm was hired by Fannie Mae in 2005 because its predecessor KPMG missed accounting errors that cost the housing finance company $9 billion in previously reported profit. A Deloitte spokesman declined to comment.

Chief Executive Daniel Mudd told investors following weaker-than-expected first quarter results that this year and next year would beg "tough." Little did he know that those words would foreshadow his ouster along with his counterpart at Freddie Mac Richard Syron. They no doubt will be getting a pretty fat golden parachutte. Both companies have lost a combined $14 billion over the past year.

If the auditors were not as diligent with Freddie and Fannie as they should have been, then members of Congress needs to hold them accountable. The shareholders who have been wiped out by the government's rescue deserve to know if auditors missed signs of the collapse that they should have caught.

Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WMI) raised its hostile bid for smaller rival Republic Services Inc. (NYSE: RSG) by more than 8% to $6.73 billion, a premium that should be enough to scuttle Republic's $6.24 billion purchase of Allied Waste Industries Inc. (NYSE: AW).

Under the terms of the deal, Waste Management would buy Republic for $37 per share, a premium of almost 33% to Republic's closing price on July 11, the last trading day before the company's buyout proposal was disclosed. The proposal is above Republic's all-time high stock price. Moreover, Waste Management will pay Republic, which rejected Waste Management's earlier offer as inadequate, a fee of $250 million if the merger does not close because of opposition from the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Our $37.00 all-cash proposal clearly offers Republic stockholders a better and more certain value
alternative than is contemplated in the Republic-Allied transaction," said David P. Steiner, Waste
Management's CEO, in a press release. "We believe our proposal is clearly superior for Republic's stockholders and is designed so we can work cooperatively with Republic to structure a transaction that would benefit both
Republic and Waste Management stockholders."

A combined Waste and Republic would create annual synergies of $200 million, $50 million more than the savings created by the Republic-Allied deal, according to the Wall Street Journal. The reason for Waste Management's interest in Republic is simple according to the paper: "Though smaller than Waste or Allied, Republic is generally regarded as the best-run trash hauler in the country, and its stock has outperformed its rivals."

Shares of toy maker Mattel (NYSE: MAT) are soaring in premarket trading today, after the company announced better-than-expected numbers for its second quarter.

At first glance, the numbers don't look too hot for Mattel. The company announced that profit was off by a pretty hefty 48% in the quarter, down to 3 cents per share on $11.8 million. This is down from $22.8 million, or 6 cents per share, for the same period last year. The company blamed most of the decline in weak demand for its Barbie dolls, and higher costs that it had to endure in the quarter.

From the above paragraph, you may be expecting to see the company being punished in the premarket, but in fact, shares of the stock are trading up a blazing 13.5% as I write this, and were up over 18% as of about 5 minutes ago. Why? Simple, in Wall Street it is all about expectations, and the company was able to outperform analysts estimates for the quarter, which were looking to see only a 2 cent per share report.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH) Chief Executive Richard Fuld continues to keep his job even though shares of the New York-bank have slumped more than 60% this year. Meanwhile, American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG), whose shares are down 42%, ousted CEO Martin Sullivan because of the continued poor performance of the world's largest insurer.

Why didn't Fuld follow Sullivan onto the unemployment line, albeit the cushy one for failed CEOs? It makes no sense.

Last week, Fuld shocked investors by pre-announcing that Lehman lost $2.8 billion, or $5.14 per share, results that were officially confirmed today. In the earnings release, Fuld proclaimed the results as "unacceptable" and vowed to "take the necessary steps to restore the credibility of our great franchise." Well, at least he says that's what he wants to do. He dismissed Lehman President Joseph Gregory and Chief Financial Officer Erin Callan last week. On the conference call, Fuld even took responsibility for the loss and investors cheered this act of contrition, sending shares of Lehman up.

The euphoria is not going to last. I am not sure why Wall Street believes that Fuld can extricate Lehman from the financial quagmire that occurred on his watch. They certainly did not give Merrill Lynch & Co.'s (NYSE: MER) Stan O'Neal and Bear Stearns & Co.'s (NYSE: BSC) James Cayne or Citigroup Inc.'s (NYSE: C) the benefit of the doubt.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that if Nabors Industries' (NYSE: NBR) 78-year old chairman Eugene Isenberg died, the company would have to pay his estate "severance" of $263 million.

According to the Journal, "Dozens of other companies offer lush death-benefit packages to their top executives, according to a Wall Street Journal review of federal filings. Many companies accelerate unvested stock awards after a death, which by itself can amount to tens of millions of dollars. Some promise giant posthumous severance payouts, supercharged pensions or even a continuation of executives' salaries or bonuses for years after they're dead."

What?! A continuation of salaries and bonuses after the CEO dies? I have to tell you: it speaks volumes about how low the performance targets for bonuses are at America's public companies when they can be achieved from 6-feet under. How can a bonus possibly be performance-related when it's paid out even if the executive kicks off? I just don't get it at all.

It gets worse: executives are given hefty parting gifts in exchange for non-compete agreements -- by signing the employment contract, they agree not to go work for a competitor if they part ways. They still get those non-compete payments if they die. But maybe that makes sense: even a dead guy could probably deliver stronger results than Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) CEO George Jones has. Rumor has it that the company has considered replacing him with Tolstoy.

Be sure to read the Wall Street Journal piece. It's depressing, hilarious, and pathetic, all at the same time. If you needed more proof that corporate governance in America is a joke, look no further.

As expected, Apple announced today the launch of its next generation iPhone, and the new phone will come with a price tag that is $200 less than the current model. The new 3G iPhones are going to hit the market with a $199 price tag.

A big reason for the release of the the new iPhones is the desire by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to hit their goal of selling 10 million phones by the end of the year. The new phone will have faster Internet connection and satellite navigation capabilities. If you are like me, and have been postponing the purchase of a new phone in anticipation of today's announcement, you will have to wait a bit longer. The new phones will be available on July 11.

While the new phones will be about half the price of the current models, the monthly service plans will be a bit higher. Look for a $39.99 monthly plan, plus another $30 monthly fee for unlimited data. This works out to be about a $10 monthly increase, but considering the improvements of the new phones, not too bad of a deal if you ask me. Supposedly the new iPhones will be able to download data twice as fast as the current model.

Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) Chief Executive Kennedy Thompson was living on borrowed time. The company, though, had a funny way of showing it.

In 2007, Thompson was not awarded cash incentives or performance-based stock to Thompson because things were going poorly. Or were they?

"The Compensation Committee considered that while 2007 performance did not meet expectations for reasons noted above, under Mr. Thompson's leadership, earnings per share growth and Wachovia's tangible return on equity have been at or above the median of its peer group for 2007 and for the 3- and 5-year periods ending December 31, 2007," the company said in its latest proxy statement.

The company's board showed its displeasure and granted him premium priced stock options valued at $8.2 million. His total compensation was more than $21 million. Thompson did not have an employment agreement with Charlotte-based Wachovia and therefore would "only" be eligible for a severance of $1.45 million based on his years of service as of December 31. But don't shed a tear for Thompson.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson was under attack today as some members of the Rockefeller family tried to convince shareholders to split the chairman and CEO jobs. Tillerson won the battle, and at least for now, will continue to hold both positions for the oil giant.

As Zac Bissonnette noted Tuesday, Neva Rockefeller Goodwin and Peter O'Neill, descendants of John D. Rockefeller were the powering force behind today's proposed action, which wound up failing as only 39.5% of the company's shareholders voted to support the new changes. There were 4.4 billion votes cast in this years vote.

Last year, a similar proposal was put before a shareholder vote, with nearly an identical result of only a 40% approval for such a change.

Tech giant Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported its fiscal second quarter numbers this afternoon, easily beating out Wall Street estimates for the quarter.

Analysts had been expecting the company to report earnings of $1.07 a share, and the company actually reported earnings of $1.16 for its most recent quarter. Sales came in way above estimates as well, with a reported $7.51 billion, exceeding the $6.964 billion analysts had been looking for.

Today's report should help wipe any concerns that the current economic slowdown in America is negatively affecting the company's business.

Bloomberg News reports that Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) lost $5.11 billion in the first quarter. This was worse than analysts had expected and was its second straight quarterly loss on at least $15 billion of writedowns and increased loan losses as customers fell behind on home, car and credit-card payments. Specifically, Citigroup's loss of $1.02 per share is the opposite of its profit of $5 billion, or $1.01 per share, in the first three months of 2007. Analysts were expecting a loss of 95 cents per share.

But it looks like Citi is doing something about the problem. Bloomberg News reports that Citi plans to cut costs by as much as 20%. It cites a Financial Times story that quoted CEO Vikram Pandit as saying: "It is clearly feasible for Citigroup to take 10, 15, 20 percent off its cost base, especially in information technology and operations." The cuts would include job losses among Citi's 370,000 employees.

And although its revenue plunged 48% to $13.2 billion, Citi beat analysts' expectations of $11.1 billion. Investors seem to be cheering the news about the cost cuts and the lower than expected drop in revenues. Citi is up 8.8% in pre-market.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns Citigroup shares.