NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Investors around the globe wished for a coordinated interest-rate cut, but what they got was a coordinated sell-off Thursday as stocks in Tokyo, Paris, Sao Paolo and New York tumbled amid rising uncertainty about the near-term future of the world economy and finances.
The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 216.01 points, or 2.7 percent, to 7,873.77. Declines beat advances 2,254 to 805 as 697 million shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Nasdaq Composite plunged 43.66, or 2.6 percent, to 1,646.25. The S&P 500 index fell 26.61, or 2.6 percent, to 1,018.87. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks lost 4.56, or 1.3 percent, to 355.29. The Dow transports index fell 70.14, or 2.4 percent, to 2,813.99.
Wednesday's Congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was seen as the culprit behind the markets' woes. In his anxiously anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill, Greenspan said no coordinated interest-rate cuts among the industrialized nations were in the works, quashing investors' hopes for a central-bank rescue package for the world's financial markets.
Confirming Greenspan's words, Germany's Bundesbank left interest rates unchanged Thursday. And a selling tsunami that started in Asia swept through Europe and reached Latin America, where it sent Brazil's Bovespa index down 10 percent and caused a trading halt for 30 minutes in the morning.
Such wild market swings are to be expected in times of political and economic uncertainty around the world, said Mark Stoeckle, portfolio manager at Colonial US Stock Fund, who is in charge of $900 million worth of investments. (188K WAV) or (188K AIFF)
The bond market rallied as investors from around the world fled to the safety of U.S. Treasury securities. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rose 23/32 of a point in price, lowering the yield to 5.17 percent.
The dollar finished down slightly against the Japanese yen and up a bit against the German mark, roiled by the stock market's turmoil.
Selling saga continues
In stocks, the technology sector was among the hardest hit as investors feared earnings among high-tech giants would deteriorate amid the global economic rout.
Shares of Dell (DELL) fell 1-15/16 to 58-1/8, Intel (INTC) dropped 2-1/16 to 83 and Microsoft (MSFT) slumped 3-1/4 to 104-15/16. Dow component IBM (IBM) lost 3-3/4 to 126-3/4.
Confirming the bears' suspicions of slower earnings to come, DuPont Photomask (DPMI) tumbled 3-7/8, or more than 14 percent, to 23-3/4 after the company said fiscal first-quarter earnings will fall short of expectations.
The wave of selling hit shares of international telecommunications companies hard too. French telecom-equipment maker Alcatel (ALA) saw its American depositary receipts plunge 12-1/16, or more than 38 percent, to 19-1/4 after issuing a profit warning and blaming the crises in Asia and Russia for a large part of its woes. BT Alex. Brown lowered its rating of Alcatel to "perform" from "strong buy."
Alcatel's European rivals felt no better, with ADRs of Finland's Nokia (NOK.A) tumbling 5-13/16 to 75-1/2 and Sweden's Ericsson (ERICY) losing 1-7/16 to 18-1/2. North American telecom-equipment makers also suffered, with Lucent (LU) losing 3-7/8 to 72-1/2 and Northern Telecom (NT) off 6 to 39-9/16.
Finally, financial stocks, heavily exposed to interest-rate speculation and international market swings, tumbled sharply. Shares of Citicorp (CCI) lost 6-1/4 to 96-1/2 and Chase Manhattan (CMB) shed 2-1/4 to 47-11/16. Among the Dow components, American Express (AXP) lost 3-3/16 to 83-7/8, J.P. Morgan (JPM) fell 4-1/2 to 89-3/4, and Travelers (TRV) shed 2-7/16 to 40-11/16.
Brokerages followed a similar path, with Merrill Lynch (MER) losing 2-15/16 to 56-1/16, and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) falling 1-7/8 to 29-1/2.
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers.) 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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