Dow falls 370 points as fear grips markets

Heaving selling around the world pushes the Dow down to levels last seen in October 2004, but losses are cut substantially at day's end. Techs are hit hard; oil falls under $88. Investors aren't wild about Bank of America's plan to raise $10 billion in new capital. The Dow Jones industrials plunged below 10,000 today for the first time since October 2004 and briefly exceeded a record point loss set only a week ago as markets struggled with continued fallout from a global credit crunch. But two rebounds set in during the last hour of trading that trimmed the Dow's loss. The blue-chip index closed down 370 points, or 3.6%, to 9,956. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 42 points, or 3.9%, to 1,057, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was off 84 points, or 4.3%, to 1,863 . As painful as the losses were, they were a big... [read full story]