Iraqi leader's death sends stocks plummeting

Wall Street, already beset by worries about the economy and world events, skidded even lower today on news that the head of Iraq’s governing council had been assassinated. The Dow fell more than 100 points.

Bargain hunting helped the market recover a small part of its early losses, but investors’ overall mood was one of depression. Stocks also fell on foreign exchanges in response to the violence in the Middle East and to political and economic events in India and Japan.