Wednesday March 14 4:18 PM ET
Stocks Mauled, Dow Falls Below Key 10,000 Mark

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks got whacked on Wednesday, with the blue-chip Dow average again sinking below the key 10,000 level amid relentless selling by investors worried about the weak U.S. economy, bleak corporate profits and Japan's troubled banking sector.

There were few places to hide as the latest chapter in the demise of the 1990s bull market unfolded. The sell-off pushed the Dow Jones industrial average below the psychologically crucial 10,000-point mark several times -- in its 10th-largest point drop ever -- to levels unseen since last October.

``Everything is so overwhelmingly bearish,'' said Donna Van Vlack of Brandywine Asset Management, which has $7 billion under management.

The Dow fell 317.34 points, or 3.08 percent, to 9,973.46, according to the latest available figures. Most of the Dow's 30 stocks were down, and the blue-chip index has now shed almost 900 points since a recent peak of 10,858 last Thursday.

The tech-packed Nasdaq Composite Index closed well under the 2,000 mark, a level it reached on Monday for the first time in more than two years. The Nasdaq slipped 42.74 points, or 2.12 percent, to finish at 1,972.04, after a brief foray into positive territory on some bargain-hunting earlier in the day.

The broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index -- in bear market territory, defined by a drop of 20 percent or more from its high -- slumped 30.95 points, or 2.58 percent, to 1,166.71.

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