Dow Off 360 on Credit Worries

Stocks plummeted again today as investors remembered just how scary the credit crunch is. Financials led the fall, and the Dow was down 360. "Negative news that was overlooked and ignored yesterday" was back today, one manager told the Wall Street Journal. The Dow finished off 360.92 to 13,300.02, the Nasdaq 76.42 to 2,748.76 and the S&P 44.65 to 1,475.62.

The price of oil retreated today, pausing in the march toward $100 a barrel, though the US dollar continued to diminish, especially after a Chinese official was quoted as calling it a "weak currency." "This is nothing new, but every time the old news hits the wire again, it affects the market," one economist said. (More stock market stories.)