Dow falls through 9,000 and picks up speed

Stocks continue seven-session free fall amid sluggish credit markets While the number of declining stocks outpaced advancers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, the selling appeared far more orderly than earlier in the week and last week when panic about tight lending conditions and the economy gripped trading. NEW YORK - The Dow Jones Industrials fell through the 9,000 level Thursday and continued racing down in the last hour of trading. It was the seventh consecutive session markets closed down. Trading remained volatile, with the major indexes like the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index bobbing up and down. The Nasdaq composite index, with a bevy of tech stocks, showed more lasting gains because of advances by companies like Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. But worries about General... [read full story]