Minnesota companies took a beating Monday, the first trading day since Standard & Poor's lowered the nation's bond rating Friday night.
The downgrade followed a two-week pummeling of stocks that began with the debt ceiling debate and accelerated amid increasingly gloomy economic reports.
The Bloomberg Star Tribune 100 index of Minnesota's largest publicly traded companies fell 7.2 percent Monday, more than Standard & Poor's 500 (-6.6 percent) and the Dow Jones industrial average (-5.55 percent).
Since July 22, Minnesota's largest companies have shed $82.3 billion in market value, or 17.6 percent. The damage has been widespread, with 99 companies -- from health care to retail to manufacturing -- losing market value.
The lone gainer? Caribou Coffee, up 3.6 percent for the period.
JOHN J. OSLUND, PATRICK KENNEDY
