Ouch! Shareholders lost $2.4 trillion in 2002

A stock rout this year has erased $2.4 trillion in market value, representing almost one-quarter of the U.S. gross domestic product, as waves of accounting problems, executive skulduggery and profit warnings have pounded Wall Street's confidence.

The Wilshire Total Market Index , the broadest index for the U.S. equity market, closed at its lowest point in almost 4 years Wednesday and has tumbled more than 18 percent so far this year.

The decline is worth more than Germany's gross national product, a measure of the dollar value of all goods and services produced in that country plus income from abroad. U.S GDP, which measures the value of goods and services produced within the United States, is about $10 trillion.

But for all the doom and gloom, some see recent sharp declines as good news.