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U.S. stocks dropped, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a fourth straight weekly loss, as a deeper-than-estimated slide in consumer confidence added to concern the economic recovery will be delayed.

CIT Group Inc., the century-old lender that trades in the bond market as if it may fail, slid 18 percent on concern the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. won’t guarantee its bond sales. Chevron Corp. helped lead the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower as oil completed its worst weekly drop since January and the company said the weaker dollar was slashing profit. Technology shares rose, limiting the market’s slide, following analyst upgrades of Yahoo! Inc. and MEMC Electronic Materials Inc.

Source: bloomberg.com

U.S. stocks fell for a third day, extending a global slump, as jobless claims topped forecasts and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the financial crisis isn’t over.

Regions Financial Corp. tumbled 19 percent after selling shares at a discount. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index plunged 2.5 percent and gilts slid after Standard & Poor’s said Britain may lose its AAA credit rating for the first time.

The S&P 500, which has rebounded 32 percent from its 12- year low on March 9, slid 1.2 percent to 892.24 at 10:05 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 117.48 points, or 1.4 percent, to 8,304.56. Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index tumbled 1.6 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.7 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DJI) is one of several stock market indices, created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow.

The average is computed from the stock prices of 30 of the largest and most widely held public companies in the United States. Current companies included in the DJIA are:

• 3M (MMM)
• Alcoa (AA)
• American Express (AXP)
• AT&T (T)
• Bank of America (BAC)
• Boeing (BA)
• Caterpillar (CAT)
• Chevron Corporation (CVX)
• Citigroup (C)
• Coca-Cola (KO)
• DuPont (DD)
• ExxonMobil (XOM)
• General Electric (GE)
• General Motors (GM)
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
• Home Depot (HD)
• Intel (INTC)
• IBM (IBM)
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
• JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
• Kraft Foods (KFT)
• McDonald’s (MCD)
• Merck (MRK)
• Microsoft (MSFT)
• Pfizer (PFE)
• Procter & Gamble (PG)
• United Technologies Corporation (UTX)
• Verizon Communications (VZ)
• Walmart (WMT)
• Walt Disney (DIS)

Oct. 13 – U.S. stocks had the biggest rally in seven decades on a government plan to buy stakes in banks and a Federal Reserve led push to flood the global financial system with dollars.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rebounded from its worst week in 75 years with an 11.6 percent advance, its steepest since 1939, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more than 936 points. Europe’s benchmark index climbed 10 percent, its best jump ever, and Asia’s added 3.1 percent.