Stocks Drop to 2008 Low as Bad News Piles Up

Stocks tumbled today as Wall Street contended with a barrage of bad news: another surge in oil prices and warnings of trouble in the key financial, automotive, and high-tech industries. The major indexes showed losses of more than 2%, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which shed more than 250 points and dropped to its lowest level in more than a year.

The Dow fell as low as 11,549.90, well under its 2008 trading low of 11,634.82 and to its lowest level since September 2006. Analysts' negative comments on General Motors Corp. sent shares of the largest US automaker to their lowest level in more than 30 years, while Citigroup Inc. fell sharply after an analyst placed a "sell" rating on the stock and warned investors to expect less from the brokerage sector in an uneasy economic climate. (More General Motors stories.)