Stocks plummeted Wednesday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq falling for a third consecutive session, after a weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales report gave investors another reason to sell shares after the recent rally. U.S. retail sales fell 0.4 percent in April, the government reported, in contrast to economists' expectations of a flat reading. Sales excluding volatile autos fell 0.5 percent, after dropping 1.2 percent the previous month. In other economic news, U.S. households facing foreclosure jumped 32 percent in April compared to a year ago, a private group reported. More than 342,000 homes received notices of default last month, up 1 percent from March. Light sweet crude oil for June delivery fell 83 cents to $58.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract had risen earlier in the session after the U.S. government reported a decline in crude inventories and weaker refinery production of gasoline. The U.S. dollar gained versus the euro and fell versus the yen. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 184.22, or 2.2 percent, to 8,284.89. GM shares fell in the morning on worries it will need to file for bankruptcy protection, with the stock touching $1 per share, the lowest level since 1933. But the automaker's stock rallied in the afternoon to finish 6 cents higher at $1.21. The broader S&P 500 fell 24.43, or 2.7 percent, to 883.92. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 51.73, or 3 percent, to 1,664.19. Shares of Intel were little changed after the chipmaker was fined a record $1.45 billion by the European Union for allegedly anti-competitive practices. The New York Stock Exchange composite index fell 192.67 to 5,666.47. The American Stock Exchange composite index fell 38.06 to 1,473.65. And the Russell 2000 index fell 23.36 to 471.82.
