US stocks: Wall St in freefall again

NEW YORK - US stocks are extending their slide this morning (NZ time).

More bad economic data, unrelenting fears about the financial system and fresh concerns about the stability of General Motors Corp are all keeping investors on the sidelines.

Even some positive news, including some better-than-expected retail sales and factory orders, has not been enough to stoke investor confidence.

The market is also extremely anxious ahead of tomorrow's February jobs report that is likely to show the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States.

And one in eight US households ended 2008 behind on its mortgage or in foreclosure, according to a report today that underscored the economy's weakness.

In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 206 points at 6,669, a low not seen since April 1997.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down 24 at 688, and the Nasdaq composite index is down 38 at 1,315.

- AP