Quote:
Stocks suffered their worst losses since just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, prompted by a huge sell-off in China's stock market, higher oil prices and some disappointing economic news.
The Dow Jones industrials, briefly down as much as 545 points, finished the day off 416 points, or nearly 3.3%, to 12,217. The Nasdaq Composite Index plunged more than 96 points, or 3.9%, to 2,408, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index tumbled about 50 points, 3.44%, to just under 1,400, its lowest in nearly three months.
The market decline wiped out all of the year's gains for the Dow and the S&P 500.
The sell-off was made worse because computers controlling orders to the New York Stock Exchange couldn't keep with all the business.
The decline was the biggest point loss for the Dow since Sept. 20, 2001 when the blue-chip index fell 383 points, or 4.4%, to 8,376. The biggest point loss ever -- nearly 685 points -- occurred three days earlier, when markets reopened after terrorists flew airliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Today's Dow loss was also the biggest percentage decline since the index fell 3.67% on March 24, 2003 -- just before the United States invaded Iraq
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