The drop in points that sends everyone into a panic is not an individual stock, it is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which Uncle Dave has mentioned--this is a number that represents the cumulative stock prices of 30 stocks that are considered representative of the market in general, which is called "the broader market" on CNBC--

There are, of course, a lot of problems with judging the health of stock market based on the performance of only 30 of the thousands of stocks that are traded, just as there are problems with judging the health of an economy by the sales of stocks--but hey, they've gotta do something--