Dow off 91 in wild ride

NEW YORK -- Stocks tumbled again today, dragging the Dow Jones industrial average as much as 183 points lower in a two-session slide reminiscent of the days before the crash of 1987, which marks its 10th anniversary Sunday.

The Dow ended the day down 91.85 at 7,847.03, giving the blue-

chip barometer a loss of 198.18, or about 2.5 percent, for the week. Even with the loss, the Dow is up more than 21 percent this year.

The Nasdaq composite, down more than 53 points during the afternoon, fell 32.81 to close at 1,666.85. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list fell 11.06 to 944.17, halving an earlier loss of more than 23 points; and the NYSE composite index fell 5.74 to 496.56.

Once again, the selling spread to the small-company sector, which has been on a record-setting tear for more than a month.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 7.87 to 449.29, its first four-session slide since early August. The American Stock Exchange composite index, which is dominated by smaller companies, fell 7.50 to 700.88.

Decliners issues outnumbered advancers by a nearly 4-to-1 margin on the NYSE, with 611 up, 2332 down and 474 unchanged. NYSE volume was 623.25 million shares vs. 595.98 million yesterday.

Bond prices fell on the reports, pushing yields on the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond as high as 6.47 percent, up from 6.39 percent late yesterday.

As Treasury prices recovered, the long-bond yield -- another key determinant of borrowing costs -- eased back to 6.44 percent.