Wall Street swoons over Europe's debt crisis

NEW YORK -- Another wave of selling hit stocks Wednesday in response to growing fears that Europe has no quick fix for its debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell about 67 points after having been down as much as 186.

The extent of investors' worries became clear after the euro bounced off a four-year low but stocks still fell. The euro has been driving stock trading for weeks.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index, widely considered one of the best measures of how the stock market is doing, neared a 10 percent drop from the 2010 trading high it reached last month. That would mark the first time the market has had what's known as a correction since it bounced off a 12-year low in March last year. Most analysts say a correction is a drop of at least 10 percent.

The latest worry came from Germany, where regulators banned what's called naked short selling. That occurs when traders bet against investments they don't hold. The rule covers European government bonds, credit default swaps and the shares of several financial companies.

"People are still just very concerned about what's going on overseas," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist in U.S. equity research at Standard & Poor's in New York.

The Dow fell 66.58, or 0.6 percent, to 10,444.37 after dropping 115 on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 index fell 5.75, or 0.5 percent, to 1,115.05. At its low Wednesday, the index was down 9.8 percent from its 2010 high.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 18.89, or 0.8 percent, to 2,298.37.

Crude oil rose 46 cents to $69.87 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold fell.

U.S. investors haven't been focusing on the U.S. economy but given the downbeat mood on Wall Street downbeat news drew some attention.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the number of homeowners who missed at least one payment on their mortgage rose to a record in the first quarter. That signaled that foreclosures could rise and suggested that troubles in the U.S. housing sector are far from over.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve's late April meeting indicated that policymakers were more upbeat about the prospects of the U.S. economy than they were at the start of the year. The forecast that was updated for last month's meeting was that the economy can grow by 3.2 percent to 3.7 percent this year. That's stronger than in January when the Fed predicted growth of 2.8 percent to 3.5 percent.

The Fed's take on the economy, however, came before the stock market started tumbling this month on concerns about debt in Europe.

About four stocks fell forevery one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 8.35, or 1.2 percent, to 674.40.

Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 2.8 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 2.7 percent, and France's CAC-40 dropped 2.9 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.5 percent.