As the days wore on, though, investors still seemed to have trouble shaking their fears. Some stocks caught in the Intel downdraft, such as Sun and Oracle, did recover. But others just kept sagging. By the middle of the next week, Dell was hitting new 52-week lows. Atmel, Apple and Cisco were well off the levels where their prices had stood before the Intel announcement.
Stocks can go down for plenty of reasons.
But the Euro's woes add an element of doubt to future sales and profits, and Wall Street doesn't like such uncertainty. Wobbly currencies overseas increase the chances of such surprises for U.S. firms doing a lot of overseas business. It's also unsettling when governments have trouble at one of their essential tasks, ensuring stable currencies. The day after the Intel warning, the leading central banks of the world, including the Federal Reserve, intervened to prop up the Euro. It was an unprecedented move, and the Euro rallied-a little.