Stocks Down | featured news

As regulators sought to make sense of what was behind Thursday's wild gyrations in the stock market, some experts warned that Wall Street's effort to undo tainted trades could encourage the very behavior that led to the market plunge.

President Barack Obama said Friday that regulatory authorities were probing one of the wildest trading days in Wall Street history that left investors, government officials and traders scratching around for a cause.

Stocks are plunging as investors give in to fears that Greece's debt problems will spread and halt the global economic recovery.

European debt problems sent another wave of pessimism through the markets.

Central bank bumps up cost for emergency loans to banks, but says move on benchmark rate is not imminent.

Alcoa and General Electric slid amid concerns about global growth following sluggish fourth-quarter economic growth in the euro zone and a move by China to tighten lending.