Stocks plunge; S&P 500 is down 10 percent from November peak

Friday, January 8, 2016, Vol. 40, No. 2
The Associated Press

A bad start to 2016 for the stock market got even worse.

Stocks plunged Wednesday, bringing the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index down 10 percent from its November peak.

The last time the market had a plunge that big, known as a "correction" on Wall Street, was last August.

Energy and consumer stocks bore the brunt of the selling. With crude oil trading near $30 a barrel, many fear more oil and gas companies will go bankrupt.

Netflix and Amazon, the market's two biggest winners last year, took a beating.

The Dow Jones industrial average sank 364 points, or 2.2 percent, to 16,151.

The S&P 500 lost 48 points, or 2.5 percent, to 1,890.

The Nasdaq composite dropped 159 points, or 3.4 percent, to 4,526.