The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its largest one-day loss ever, leaving few bright spots in the world of exchange traded funds (ETFs).

The Dow today plunged 777 points, by far surpassing the previous record of 684.81, set in the first trading day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, reports Tim Paradis for the Associated Press. The ETF that tracks the S&P 500, SPDRs Trust, Series 1 (SPY), suffered its biggest percentage loss ever as it fell 7.5%.

Here’s how the three major indexes (Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500) looked over the course of the day:

The morning already started off in negative territory, and worsened as the House voted down a $700 billion bailout package. The failure means that no one knows how the financial sector is going to recover. No one believed that the plan was a magic bullet, but it was seen as a start.

What’s next for the bailout remains to be seen. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will meet with President Bush to discuss the next step. Meanwhile, Paulson has vowed to protect the financial markets, says Martin Crutsinger for the Associated Press.

The drop left few areas of the market untouched. Oil prices plummeted $10 a barrel to settle at $96.36, reports Stevenson Jacobs for the Associated Press. This means that in the last week, oil has dropped nearly 20%.

Pump prices kept falling, with the national average for a gallon slipping to $3.643. Prices could go even lower soon as production is stepped up in the Gulf Coast following the passages of hurricanes.

Outside of leveraged funds that offer inverse plays on various sectors, there were some bright spots to be found in the markets today. Many investors ran to traditional safe-haven investments, such as Treasury bonds. As a result, such funds rose today. The biggest gainer was the iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT), which rose 2.9%.

Gold funds rose higher today: the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) rose 3.5%, while PowerShares DB Gold (DGL) rose 3.1%. The dollar strengthened as well, with the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (UUP) going up 0.7%.

Just two weeks ago, we had another bad day in the markets in which the Dow lost more than 500 points. Our advice today remains as it was then: investors should not panic. That doesn’t mean you should ignore what’s happening, but simply pay attention and protect yourself.

Tags: DGL, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Energy, Gas, GLD, Gold, NASDAQ, Oil, Precious Metals, S&P 500, SPY, TLT, U.S. dollar

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