The Dow dropped more than 500 points today settling a little over 8500 as weak earnings and a continued drop in oil prices drove recession woes. Intra-day the Dow was down nearly 700 points; the 500 point drop today (which would have been called "Black Something-Day" if it'd happened 12 months ago -- it was the Dow's 7th worst point drop) represents nearly 6% of the index's total.