Investors’ despair about financial companies and the recession has brought the Dow Jones industrial average to another unwanted milestone: its first drop below 7,000 in more than 11 years.

Stocks sank in thin trading today as worries about American International Group touched off broader concerns that continued tightness in the credit markets will usher in another round of trouble for financial companies.

US stocks surged ahead today after the Federal Reserve said the US economy seemed likely to keep growing at its current pace, and after the central bank also softened its tone about possible rate hikes.