NEW YORK-In the first trading day since the recent downgrade announced last week by S&P, and their downgrade of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac this morning, the markets fell as expected. By mid-day, the Dow was at -417.66. The downward fall increased as the day progressed. The day ended with a drop in the Dow of -634.76

The fall began in the Asian Markets and continued through the European markets as they opened for business earlier today. The Asian market lost 2% in trading today and the European exchange saw a drop of 3%. Also, as expected, the price of gold increased by 3.72% today as investors ran away from other market options and placed their monies in the relative safety of gold. Gold on the floor at this time is now $1,713.20.

This downward trend has been continuing for over two weeks and the market now sits lower than they did at the beginning of the year. This downward movement has reflected the uneasiness that investors have for the long-term economic wellness of the U.S. and Europe of late. The economic growth of the U.S. this year is much weaker than economists had expected.

Crude oil, natural gas and other commodities continued their decline today, with oil selling at $81.31 a loss of $5.57 on the floor today. Natural Gas at $3.94 and gasoline trading at $2.69.