Dow below 12,000 as auto woes hammer market

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

NEW YORK (AFP) — US stocks took a beating Friday as renewed worries about the auto sector accelerated a decline in a market already fretting over the troubled financial sector and rising oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 12,000 points for the first time since March, tumbling 220.40 points (1.83 percent) to close at 11,842.69.

The tech-dominant Nasdaq composite sank 55.97 points (2.27 percent) to 2,406.09 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index slumped 24.90 points (1.85 percent) to 1,317.93.

The market opened weaker and losses accelerated after Ford Motor Co. warned of deeper losses into 2009 and said it was cutting output of profitable but fuel-thirsty trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Standard and Poor's cut its...