Stocks Plummet; Dow Off 362

Stocks turned sharply downward today—including a 362-point plunge by the Dow—on concerns over yesterday's Fed rate cut and bad news from Exxon Mobil and Citigroup. The cut led to "nervousness that there's another shoe to drop," a analyst told the Wall Street Journal. The Dow was down 362.14 to 13567.87, the Nasdaq off 64.29 to 2794.83, and the S&P fell 40.94 to 1508.44.

Investors fret that the cut could signal an abandonment of the fight against inflation and a strong possibility of more gloom on the financial horizon. Profits for oil giant Exxon Mobil were way down in the third quarter, and Citigroup was downgraded to a "sector underperformer" by an analyst as the bank giant continues to struggle against the credit-crunch tide. (More stock market stories.)