Despite retreating oil prices, the markets plunged to close sharply lower over concerns of a lengthy global economic downturn. The Dow slumped 370 points to drop below the 10,000 mark for the first time in four years to 9955. Nasdaq skidded 84 points to 1863.
On the upside
AgFeed Industries (Nasdaq: FEED) forecast full year income ahead of analyts expectations and announced a $10 million stock repurchase plan.
Shares of CME Group (Nasdaq: CME) surged after the futures exchange launched the latest version of its premiere real-time streaming market data application CME E-quotes.
Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) introduced its nationwide PC support and network installation service Tech Depot to provide in-home as well as in-office technology support.
On the downside
Pacific Crest analyst Michael McConnell downgraded Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) saying that he expects the chipmaker to preannounce disappointing third quarter results and predicts that the company will sell its chipset unit.
Crude oil prices tumbled to settle at $87.56 per barrel to weigh down shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) and Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO).
Third quarter earnings for Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) plunged to fall short of estimates due to significant losses from mortgages as well as credit cards. The bank plans to sell common stock to raise $10 billion.
In the broad market, declining issues overwhelmed advancers by a margin of nearly 12 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 6 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 23 points to 596.
