Misery may love company, but this was ridiculous. More than a

million IBM stockholders last week took a nightmare ride on a stock they

had long trusted. IBM had been sliding all year, recent hitting 10-year 【M1】________

lows. But after the company announced Tuesday that it would, among

other things, slash another 25,000 jobs, the stock took a historic rise. 【M2】________

In 48 hours, it lost 11 points, or almost 18 percent of its value, closing

Wednesday at 517/s. On Friday it hit other new low. Big Board officials 【M3】________

camped out on the exchange floor to prevent chaotic, and brokers 【M4】________

fielded frantic calls from investors in various stages of disbelief and

agony. “They’re screaming and hollering,” said Carol Komskis of York

Securities. “They are saying, ’Things like this just don’t happen in

America. ’” Even worse news could come: IBM warned that it may have

to cut its dividend.

Stock prices that rise and fall are anything new; that’s what makes a 【M5】_________

market. But Big Blue had always epitomized the blue-chip stock that you

could count on to send the kids to college or help you retire in the style. 【M6】_________

Some investors may be in blissful ignorant; pension funds across the 【M7】_________

country are heavily investing in IBM. (The New York state employee 【M8】_________

pension funds lonely hold 3. 6 million shares.) But the charm of stocks 【M9】_________

such as IBM, General Motors and Westinghouse was that you could feel

secure in buying them even you did not know “earnings” from your 【M10】________

elbow. Such stock made generations of Americans faithful capitalists.

“This was the kind of stock that created wealth for a lot of people in this

country,” says Jonathan Pond, a Boston-based financial counselor and

author.

【M7】