Traders Richard Cohen, left, and Lewis Vande-Pallen, work on the ...

Photo by Associated Press | published: November 22, 2011

Traders Richard Cohen, left, and Lewis Vande-Pallen, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average took a fall of nearly 250 points Monday in reaction to the failure of a congressional supercommittee to agree on a plan to cut the U.S. government’s budget deficit.