NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ah, September. Kids are back at school, Congress is back in session, we're all back to work, and the Dow crashes 350 points. Talk about a grim start to the season!

Ignoring August's suggestions of a turnaround, the markets defiantly plunged Tuesday, with the Dow sliding a whopping 355 points (4 percent) to 8,308.05, and the Nasdaq dropping 51 (another 4 percent loss) to 1,263.83.

Today's ugliness started off with bearish economic numbers: The manufacturing sector barely grew in August, while layoffs by U.S. companies rose to a six-month high. Then came New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, with news of his widening investigation. What kind of back-to-school special was this? Well, at least it's a four-day week. Read Loose Change for news on the French perhaps losing their short workweeks....

DRAGS ON THE DOW...Spitzer is widening his probe into former Salomon telecom analyst Jack Grubman to include execs at Salomon Smith Barney (the investment-banking unit of Citigroup) and their IPO-allocation practices. This news led Prudential analyst Mike Mayo to downgrade Citi -- he slapped big C with a nasty "sell." C fell 10 percent, losing $3.36 to $29.39. (Read more about Spitzer in Fortune's current cover story, "The Enforcer.")

DRIVEN INTO THE GROUND...Ford, the nation's No. 2 automaker, got smashed up after UBS Warburg cut its rating for the stock to its second lowest: "reduce." UBS analyst Saul Rubin cited Ford's puttering pension plan, a problem afflicting all car makers, and its loss of market share. This sent F down 83 cents to $10.94. The rest of the auto industry got hit, too, with GM stock dropping $2.31 to $45.55, and DaimlerChrysler losing $2.99 to $39.87.

TECH TUMBLES...Tech was suffocated by a load of bearish news that blanketed the sector, from hardware to semiconductors. Intel took some heat when Lehman Brothers analyst Dan Niles said he thinks the chipmaker will reduce 2002 and 2003 earnings estimates on Thursday. INTC lost 81 cents to $15.86. Rival AMD fell in sympathy, losing 59 cents to $8.26. Meanwhile, IBM reportedly may cut 4,000 jobs as part of its $3.5 billion acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC's consulting arm. IBM dropped $3.03 to $72.35, while rival Hewlett-Packard, a Dow component, fell 87 cents to $12.56.

The most actives today weren't very happy. Nasdaq's busiest, Cisco Systems, fell 76 cents to $13.06. Fellow networking company Lucent was the NYSE's busiest; LU actually squeaked out a 6 cent gain to $1.79. But airlines, oil stocks, and AOL and Yahoo! all slipped. To be fair, it wasn't all terrible news. In July, worldwide chip sales had their first monthly year-over-year increase since Feb 2001. We have to find solace in something!

It's Cola Guerilla Warfare! This summer we got Pepsi Blue, Dr. Pepper's Red Fusion, and a fruit basket of Fanta flavors debuting on store shelves. Now comes a new version of 7 Up, a green-colored extension of the classic drink that will be aimed at teens. The beverage will be called dnL (it's 7 Up spelled upside down, but that took me a while to figure out). What's spurring on this barrage of new flavors? Maybe all of these garish hues and sticky-sweet flavors (note we haven't seen many diet alternatives) are great promotion for teeth-whitening kits and dentist trips....

The day after our Labor Day weekend, Europe eases back from an August of vacation, and the French facing more labor. After years of a mandated 35-hour workweek, the government now will allow workers to file more overtime than the previous 130 hours-a-year limit. The details haven't been announced yet but the proposal is already under attack, with critics arguing that employees will work more without earning more...As many a banker has exclaimed, "I work a French workweek by Wednesday!"

Go Brooklyn Cyclones! Today Fortune heads out to Keyspan Park for an adventure in minor-league baseball!

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