Markets rocked by financial firms Monday

NEW YORK, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. market indexes fell hard Monday as two Wall Street institutions and trouble at the county's largest insurance company sent U.S. markets tumbling.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 504.48 points to 10,917.51, off 4.42 percent.

The Standard & Poor's index was off 59.00 points, or 4.71 percent, to 1,192.70. The Nasdaq composite index was down 81.36, or 3.6 percent, to 2,179.91.

Lehman Brothers Holdings shares fell 95 percent after announcing it would file for Chapter 11. Merrill Lynch shares rose 22 percent after Bank of America said would purchase the firm for $50 billion.

Regulators said American Insurance Group could access $20 billion of its restricted money in the face of a financial crisis.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 170 stocks advanced and 3,048 declined on a volume of 1.432 billion shares traded.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 2 16/32 to yield 3.42 percent.

The dollar was mixed. The euro traded at $1.4242 against the dollar, compared with Friday's $1.4217, while the dollar traded at 104.83 yen from Friday's 107.87 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average gained 112.26 to 12,214.76, up 0.93 percent.

In London, the FTSE 100 index fell 212.50 points to 5,204.20, off 3.92 points.