Wall Street dives on gloomy economic data
20 Nov 2008 4:35 AMUS stocks sank on Wednesday after gloomy official data underlined the deepening troubles in the world's largest economy .. with car makers desperately seeking a government bailout.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 203.82 points (2.42 per cent) to 8,220.93 around 1637 GMT (0337 AEDT Thursday) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 44.54 points (3.00 per cent) to 1,438.73.
The broad Standard & Poor's 500 index retreated 26.75 points (3.11 per cent) to 832.37.
The market extended opening losses after gloomy government reports showed arecord fall in consumer prices and a record low in starts on housing construction.
The Labour Department reported that US consumer prices plunged 1.0 per centin October .. the steepest fall since the data was first published in February 1947.
The fall in the consumer price index was broad-based .. with only food prices still rising.
AAP RTV sscrh =0A