U.S. Stocks Plummet in Final Hour of Trading

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	DJIA 8,519.21  -514.45    NASDAQ 1,615.75  -80.93    SPX 896.78  -58.27

Poor corporate earnings sent stocks tumbling and crude oil prices to a new low for the year as nervous investors contemplated a global recession.

The Dow Jones industrial average, an index of 30 blue-chip stocks, dropped nearly 700 points during the final hour of trading, a time that has become especially vulnerable to volatile shifts during the recent financial crisis. It regained some of that loss in final moments and closed down about 5.7 percent, or 514 points. The Standard & Poor's 500, a broader index watched by market professionals, fell 6 percent, or 58 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 4.8 percent, or 81 points.

"The market is trying to figure out the depth of a global recession as commodity prices continue to fall out of bed," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist with New York-based Avalon Partners.

Investors have grown increasingly worried about the impact of the financial crisis on corporate balance sheets as firms announce plans to lay off thousands of workers and predict poor earnings through the rest of the year, analysts said. The financial turmoil and the dollar's strength against the euro sent crude oil prices to new lows for the year. That has offset building evidence that government efforts to thaw the credit markets and encourage banks to lend to each other may be taking hold.

"This is part of the recuperation process," said Matt McCormick, portfolio manager and banking analyst at Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel in Cincinnati. "People would like to believe the worst is behind us, but they realize there is still going to be some hurdles in front of us."

Global recession fears also sent overseas markets falling, with Japan's Nikkei closing down 6.8 percent. The FTSE in London closed down 4.5 percent, while the Paris' CAC 40 was down 5 percent.

Poor corporate earnings showed weakness in wide array sectors of the economy.

Wachovia, weighed down by bad mortgage debt, reported a $24 billion loss during its third quarter and saw revenue fall 23 percent to $5.77 billion. That is one of the largest quarterly losses in history.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank is being acquired by Wells Fargo in a deal expected to close by the end of the year. "We believe that it was prudent for Wachovia to put these losses behind them," Wells Fargo's Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins, said in a statement.

Wachovia's stock was down 5.25 percent.

But the economic downturn has spread from the financial sector and is being felt in a wide array of corporations, from aircraft manufacturers to drug companies.

Merck, the drug maker, said today it would cut about 7,200 positions after reporting that net income fell 28 percent during the third quarter. Chicago-based Boeing, an aircraft manufacturer and defense contractor, said it was hampered by an ongoing machinists' union strike and profits fell 38 percent during the quarter. AT&T, the country's largest telecommunications firm, reported a 5.5 percent increase in net income, but missed analysts expectations.