Blue Chips Slide 678.91 Points, or 7.3% (at The Wall Street Journal Online)

The stock plunge on Thursday began after an early-morning rally, which morphed into a broad-based selloff that picked up speed as the closing bell approached. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 678.91 points, or 7.3%, to close at 8579.19. Small stocks were slammed even harder amid worries that the widening credit crunch will starve them of badly needed working capital. Feverish selling at the end of the session was sparked by a series of sell orders made in various financial stocks, including Bank of America, according to one trader. Wells Fargo, which lost 15% on the day, trimmed its losses a bit toward the end of trading. The selling was widespread. General Motors, a Dow component, saw its shares drop 31% after the auto maker's credit ratings and those of its financing unit were put on watch for downgrade by Standard... [read full story]