US markets tumble as anxiety over Obama administration

US markets tumble as anxiety over how the Obama administration will fix the crippled financial system pushed the Dow to its lowest level in more than six years. In earnings, HP cut its profit forecast and concern about rising credit-card defaults dragged financial shares to the lowest level since 1995.

Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest personal-computer maker, fell 7.9% and technology companies were the biggest drag on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Bank Of America Corp and Citigroup fell 14% each.

In economic news, the Philadelphia fed branch reported its gauge of regional manufacturing activity plunging to -41.3 in February from -24.3 in January. Economists had expected a much smaller drop to -25.

Meanwhile, leading indicators rose by 0.4% in January, double the December level, while producer prices jumped 0.8% in January and core PPI shot up 0.4%. Jobless claims were unchanged at 627,000 last week.

The Dow shed 89.68 pints, or 1.2%, to end at 7,465.95. The S&P 500 index declined 9.48 points, or 1.2%, to 778.94. The Nasdaq was down 25.15 points, or 1.7%, to 1,442.82.

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