Dow plunges 5% as recession goes global

The main Wall Street index made a slight recovery after opening losses, down 345.91 points (3.98%) to 8,345.34. Oil firms were hit by the continuing fall in oil prices despite news OPEC will cut production, and Chevron lost 5.14% to $63.34, while Exxon Mobil's share price was trimmed 4.82% to $67.00. Financials also suffered, with AIG down 10.48% to $1.88 and Bank of America dropped 5.39% to $21.76. The FTSE100 failed to rise above 4,000 in the afternoon as investors digested the poor economic news and the index remained down 251.23 points (6.15%) at 3,836.6. Banks saw some of the b...