Stocks fell sharply Monday, with the Dow industrials posting their biggest one-day decline in two months, as a six-week rally lost momentum on concerns about U.S. financial-sector profits. Stocks plunged in the morning, led by financial shares, and remained far in negative territory through the afternoon as investors sold shares from a variety of sectors after the recent rally. In economic news, U.S. leading economic indicators fell a worse-than-expected 0.3 percent in March, suggesting that the recession will last through the summer, a private research group reported. Light sweet crude oil for May delivery tumbled $4.45, or nearly 9 percent, to $45.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. dollar gained versus the euro and fell versus the yen. In corporate news, Oracle will buy sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion. The deal came after Sun reportedly rejected a $7 billion buyout offer from IBM earlier this month. PepsiCo said it offered $6 billion to purchase its two biggest bottlers. And General Motors (GM) said it will cut 1,600 salaried workers this week. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 289.44, or 3.6 percent, to 7,841.89. All 30 of the index's components fell, led by oil companies Exxon Mobil and Chevron, as well as Hewlett-Packard, 3M, and Wal-Mart Stores. Bank of America reported a first-quarter profit of $4.2 billion that easily surpassed forecasts. But the company also warned about deteriorating credit quality, and its shares plummeted 24 percent. Citigroup, American Express, and J.P. Morgan Chase were among the other bank shares to decline. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 37.21, or 4.3 percent, to 832.39. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 64.86, or 3.9 percent, to 1,608.21. The New York Stock Exchange composite index fell 260.48 to 5,220.12. The American Stock Exchange composite index fell 38.79 to 1,355.87. And the Russell 2000 index fell 26.88 to 452.49.
