jhancock@journalnet.com

POCATELLO - Wall Street's national nosedive has also affected the stocks of companies in the local area, according to stock listings.

Nationally during the past seven trading days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has seen triple-digit losses each session.

The Dow's best day during those seven came on Friday when it fell 114 points. It dropped 158 points on Oct. 3 and 179 points on Thursday. Those were the better days.

The remaining four days each saw declines of more than 340 points with two of those days dropping more than 500 points.

The question that begs to be answered is how stocks of local interest have fared during this tumultuous period.

Hoku Scientific, the Hawaii-based parent of Pocatello-based Hoku Materials, during the past few weeks saw a peak close of $6.46 per share on Sept. 25. Since then, it's lost more than 37 percent of its value, closing at $4.03 per share on Friday.

Phoenix-based ON Semiconductor, which acquired the former AMI Semiconductor in Pocatello, has fared even worse, falling much more over a longer period of time.

The stock's peak in recent weeks came on Aug. 14 at $10.56 per share.

ON has fallen nearly 60 percent since then, closing at $4.36 per share on Friday.

Union Pacific Corp. spent most of August trading in the high 70s to low 80s, peaking on Aug. 29 at $83.90 per share. Although the company paid a 27-cent dividend on Aug. 27, it still hasn't been impervious to the falling market.

Shares of U.P. closed at $58 on Friday, down 30 percent from that short-term peak on Aug. 29.

Heinz has fared better, dropping roughly 20 percent from a high of about $52 per share a month ago to close at $41.58 per share on Friday. Heinz also paid out a 41.5-cent dividend on Sept. 18. However, the stock closed at $50.21 per share on Monday and was dramatically affected by the market's plunge last week.