Governor Mary Fallin Rings Opening Bell On Wall Street

Staff and Wire Reports

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Governor Mary Fallin rang the opening bell on Wall Street Thursday morning; one of many stops as tried to drum up business for Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma governor is making a stop in New York on her return trip from a conference in Washington, D.C. She rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange at 8:30 a.m.

She also plans to meet with business officials in New York City to pitch Oklahoma as a place to open or expand a company.

Just after the opening bell rang, stocks immediately started falling.

Stocks are tumbling around the world on more signs of economic weakness. In the U.S., the government says more people filed for unemployment benefits last week than were expected. And there are signs that inflation is rising -- consumers paid more last month for gasoline, food and clothes.

The Dow Jones industrial average at one point was down more than 500 points. It's now down 436 at 10,973. All the major market indexes are down more than 4 percent.

Asian markets started the worldwide drop. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.3 percent after the country said its exports fell 3.3 percent in July from a year earlier.