Financials Send Stocks Sliding

Stocks plunged today as financials dragged down the markets. Countrywide reeled despite releasing statements denying it was preparing to file for bankruptcy protection. "You can't really have a healthy market without healthy financials," a trader told the Wall Street Journal. The Dow was down 238.42 to 12,589.07, the Nasdaq 58.95 to 2,440.51, and the S&P 500 25.99 to 1,390.19.

Citigroup nosedived after a pessimistic report from Merrill Lynch, Bloomberg reports. Analysts predict a 60% slide in fourth-quarter profits for financials, but they do foresee some bright spots mixed in. "When it's all said and done, I think we'll see that some of them did better than expected in the fourth quarter, some worse," says one researcher. (More stock market stories.)