Wall Street wobbles, Dow drops over 2%

NEW YORK: US stocks slipped into the red in early trade with benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling over two per cent, as disappointing corporate news raised fears of protracted economic downturn.
    
Further, rising claims for unemployment insurance added to the jittery investor sentiments, with two other key indices -- S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite -- dropping more than two per cent.
    
Nearly two hours into trading, the Dow was down 2.51 per cent at 8,909.72 points while S&P 500 dipped nearly three per cent to 924.32 points.
    
Nasdaq Composite declined 2.61 by per cent to 1,637.74 points.
    
Leading IT networking firm Cisco and entertainment and media company Time Warner higher quarterly profits, both have raised concerns of future outlook.
    
According to the US Department of Labour, the initial filings for jobless benefits touched 4,81,000 for the week ending November 1.
    
In another round of initiatives to bolster the fragile financial system, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank slashed their respective benchmark interest rates.
    
The Bank of England reduced the rate by 1.50 percentage points to three per cent, reportedly the lowest in more than 50 years. The ECB cut rate by half-a-percentage points to 2.75 per cent.
    
However, the rate cuts failed to cheer European bourses and the key indices UK's FTSE 100, Germany's Dax and France's Cac 40 were trading in the negative territory.
    
Elsewhere, the Asian stocks reversed their stellar gains on Wednesday and most of the markets closed deep in the red. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi were the major losers, shedding as much as seven per cent.