The Dow Jones Industrial Average is in free fall yet again, plunging more than 250 points as investors panicked at the sight of a $39 billion loss from General Motors (NYSE: GM), another record low for the dollar, record prices for gold and skyrocketing oil prices.

In early trading, the Dow is down 114.04 to 13,546.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 23.32 to 2,801.86 and the S&P 500 tumbled 13.37 to 1,506.90.

Boston Company Asset Management Larry Peruzzi told The Wall Street Journal that the market is moving on "a lot of negative news that was overlooked and ignored yesterday." Short-term thinking is ruling the day. We're talking hours, not days.

Gosh, wasn't the recent Fed rate cut supposed to boost investors' confidence? Unfortunately, that's already yesterday's news. The problem with rate cuts is that one leads to another and another and another.

Though the tech sector continues to be as robust as ever, the rest of the economy clearly isn't. The subprime meltdown continues to wreak havoc on the financial sector. The housing market is lousy and consumers are less willing to part with their discretionary income.

Clover Capital Management's Matthew Kaufler summed up the prevailing sentiment well to Bloomberg News: "Is there another shoe to drop in financial services? Does the dollar continue its dive? Do oil prices pierce $100? Those are the issues that the market is responding to."

Round and round the market goes, where she stops nobody knows.