Wall St plummets as China takes big hit

Stocks plummeted today, briefly hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 550 points as Wall Street succumbed to a global market plunge sparked by growing concerns that the US and Chinese economies are cooling and that equities prices have become over-inflated.

A 9% slide in Chinese stocks, which came a day after investors sent Shanghai’s benchmark index to a record high close, set the tone for US trading.