US stocks slump

US stocks plunged today, driving the Dow Jones industrials down more than 240 points in their second-biggest drop of the year as troubles piled up for subprime lenders, who lend money to people with a low credit rating.

Investors, bracing for a wilting US economy, fled the already deflated subprime mortgage sector while problems increased for lenders such as New Century Financial Corp, Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co and General Motors Acceptance Corp's residential unit.

Bolstering the belief that the problems are widespread, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that new foreclosures surged to an all-time high in the last quarter of 2006.

The subprime lending worries, coupled with anxiety over the Commerce Department's report due tomorrow that US retailers eked out a meagre 0.1% rise in sales last month, knocked down all three major stock indexes about 2%.

"The market's still jittery, and they're starting to get full-blown concerns over a bleed in the larger subprime mortgage market," said Matt Kelmon, portfolio manager of the Kelmoore Strategy Funds.

The subprime market is a relatively small sector of the US economy, Kelmon noted. But today's selling was accentuated by options expiring soon and by volatility that has increased since the market's big plunge two weeks ago - a 416-point drop in the Dow that was caused partially by the problems of subprime lenders, who loan to people with poor credit.

The Dow fell 242.66, or 1.97%, to 12,075.96. The index is now down more than 710 points, or 5%, from its record close reached on February 20.

Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 28.65, or 2.04%, to 1,377.95, and the Nasdaq composite index slid 51.72, or 2.15%, to 2,350.57.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange, where declining issues outnumbered advancers by 5 to 1, was high at 1.94 billion shares - more than the 1.47 billion shares at the same point on Monday but lower than the 2.38 billion shares traded on February 27, when the Dow took its largest plunge since 2001.

Trading collars were triggered this afternoon when the New York Stock Exchange Composite index lost more than 180 points. The collars put a chokehold on certain orders, forbidding transactions that capitalise on discrepancies in prices.

Subprime lending jitters and sluggish retail sales drove up bond prices. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.50% from 4.56% on Monday.

Gold prices fell, and the dollar was lower against most major currencies. A drop in the dollar versus the yen renewed anxiety about traders unwinding their yen "carry trades", or taking money out of high-yielding dollar assets bought with the low-yielding yen.

The subprime worries have been mounting for weeks, but came to a head when the New York Stock Exchange took steps to delist shares of New Century shares, which said today that the Securities and Exchange Commission would be probing accounting errors that inflated its loan portfolio.

"Investors are poking around to see how much rotted wood there is here," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer for Harris Private Bank. "It looks like the notion was subprime was contained, and now we're starting to see that maybe this problem has moved into other areas of the market. That's causing investors great concern."

Accredited Home contributed to the anxiety after it said it is in need of cash. Its shares plunged $7.43, or 65%, to $3.97.

Wall Street sold off further when the Mortgage Bankers Association's quarterly report on the mortgage market seemed to confirm investors' worries that the entire sector is struggling and could weaken further: not only did new foreclosures hit a record high in the fourth quarter of last year, but late mortgage payments soared to a 3 1/2-year high.

Late in the session, General Motors Acceptance Corp - General Motors' part-owned financing arm - reported that its fourth-quarter profit rose, but struggles in its Residential Capital LLC unit were eating into earnings. That news gave investors extra motivation to sell.

"The fear index is rising," said Steven Cochrane, senior managing director for Moody's Economy.com. "(Subprime mortgages) are our No 1 concern right now."

That fear hit stocks of homebuilders, as lending obstacles could further cripple the struggling housing market. DR Horton Inc fell 86 cents, or 3.7%, to $22.31; Centex lost $2.15, or 4.8%, to $42.76; and Toll Brothers dropped 67 cents, or 2.4%, to $27.34.

Investors trying to gauge how far problems in the subprime sector have spread pounced on comments from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The investment bank said that while the subprime sector showed "significant weakness," the broader credit environment "remained strong." Goldman Sachs fell $3.57 to $199.03, despite record first-quarter profit thanks to strong revenue from trading and investment banking.

In addition to the subprime jitters, government data on Tuesday suggested that consumer spending might be getting crimped. The Commerce Department said sales at US retailers rose 0.1% in February as wintry weather in much of the country kept shoppers away from stores. Investors had expected an increase of 0.3% from January.

Several retailers stumbled following the Commerce Department's report. Federated Department Stores, parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, fell 85 cents to $44.09; Wal-Mart Stores slid $1.08, or 2.3%, to $46.18; and Target fell $1.76, or 2.8%, to $60.47.

Of the Dow's 30 blue chip stocks, the only gainer was AT&T, which rose 19 cents to $37.25.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 19.88, or 2.52%, to 769.12.