Stocks plunge anew as retail sales show steep drop

NEW YORK - Investors agonizing over a faltering economy sent the stock market plunging all over again Wednesday after two disheartening reports convinced Wall Street that a recession, if not already here, is inevitable. The Dow Jones industrials dropped as much as 572 points, more than half their huge 936-point advance from Monday, and all the major indexes fell at least 5 percent.