The Dow closed Monday at 8,921, down 684 points. The Nasdaq lost 116 points to close at 1,580.

At one point in afternoon trading the Dow was off 721 points and fell to its lowest level since 1998.

While the Dow's decline was the largest point-drop ever in a single day, the 7 percent loss did not come close to the largest percent decrease, which took place on Oct. 19, 1987, when shares fell 22.6 percent. Many investors did not seem overly concerned by Monday's mass sell-off, which, for the most part was expected. Instead, they focused on the simple fact that markets were open again.

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, when asked about the market's sharp decline in a late afternoon press conference, said, "I think it's a very good idea that it got open. Sounds like a great time to buy to me."

Among individual stocks, IBM closed down 3 percent at $93.13, Intel lost 9 percent to $23.66 and Microsoft lost 8 percent to $52.91. Hewlett-Packard fell nearly 10 percent to $16.07, while Compaq plummeted 17 percent to $8.61.

In the distribution sector, Ingram Micro slipped 3 percent to $14.11 and Tech Data dropped nearly 7 percent to $37.75.

Prior to the opening bell Monday, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a percentage point, but the move did not seem to do much to calm investor nerves.