stock lowest in six years

Stocks plunge anew as hopes for immediate auto-loans fade fiancials energy tumbles.
late in the session after hopes faded that lawmakers would quickly assemble an aid package for U.S. automakers and as the Standard & Poor's 500 index broke through lows established in 2002. That breach of a key technical threshold sent a shudder through the market and touched off further selling.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.7 percent to its lowest close since April 1997 The Dow Jones industrial average, meanwhile, fell 445 points, or 5.6 percent, to its lowest close since March 2003. The decline brings the Dow's two-day drop to 873 points, or 10.6 percent, its worst two-day.