U.S. and European stock markets plummeted again Wednesday as the debt crisis rocking a handful of smaller European nations threatened to engulf the continent’s biggest economies, France and Germany. Major markets on both sides of the Atlantic declined by more than 4 percent, with investors dumping financial stocks in particular amid signs that the debt crisis on the periphery of Europe is rapidly becoming a banking crisis at its core. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 520 points, or 4.6 percent, to 10,720, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 52 points, or 4.4 percent, to 1,121. The declines erased the major gains made Tuesday and dashed hopes that the markets were starting to rebound from their recent lows. Read full article > >

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Stock markets in U.S., Europe show major drop