The news sent tremors through Indian financial markets, with the country's benchmark stock index, the Sensex, plunging 465 points, or around 1.6percentt.
Investors continued to sell shares of technology companies yesterday, sending the Nasdaq composite index plunging 258.25 points, or 5.8percentto to 4,188.20.
Stocks tilted lower on Tuesday amid sour economic news and a disappointing outlook from UPS. June's consumer confidence figure came in at 50.4, plunging 7.7 points, according to the Conference Board.
The false alarm sent the Dow plunging 145 points between 1 08 p.m. ET and 1 10 p.m.
In the West, which has been spared much of the severe weather, confidence fell the furthest, plunging 14 points this month.
The gauge, heavily weighted in technology, plunged 574.57 points at one point before zooming back the other direction by almost 500 points, to close down 1.77percentt.
The Dow Jones plunges 777 points, its biggest ever fall in points terms.
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 109.18 points, to 10,186.60, and lost 53.48 points for the week.
The report showed a closely watched index of confidence plunged 11.5 points in October, far more than the 1.4-point slide Wall Street expected.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock indroppedpped 22.59 points, or 1.6percentto to 1,409.28, while the Nasdaq plunged 184.09 points, or 5.4percentto to 3,231.70.
