Financial firms still showing weakness

NEW YORK, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. banks that have received billions of dollars in government aid took hard hits in stock trading Wednesday among a broad sweep of stock losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged to less than 8,000, reaching a six-year low, set off by housing data and a record drop in the consumer price index, which fell 1 percent in October.

Citigroup Inc. fell 23.4 percent Wednesday. Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo & Co. all fell more than 10 percent, The New York Times reported.

Credit markets -- the target of the government's $700 billion bailout package -- were again pinched. Yields on Treasury bills fell to almost zero as investors flocked to the safest place to put their money.

Junk bonds Wednesday fell to their lowest levels on record, a sign of credit woes, the Times reported.

Losses swept beyond the financial sector. Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. fell 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively, after executives flew to Washington to seek government assistance. Crude oil prices sank, investors betting that eroding demand will continue.

"The market is still anticipating that we have not seen the worst," said Ryan Larson, head equity trader at Voyageur Asset Management.