The US stock market suffered its largest loss since the crash of 1987 on Thursday amid panic over General Motors, Morgan Stanley and several big insurance companies. The market collapse heightened speculation that the US would unveil a bank recapitalisation plan in the coming days. Share prices, which had opened higher, plunged in a catastrophic final hour of frenzied trading, with the S&P 500 index plunging 7.6%, while the Dow lost 7.3% to 8,579.19 - below 9,000 for the first time since 2003. The S&P is now down 42% from its all-time high a year ago. President George W. Bush is expected to address the nation on Thursday at about 10am Eastern time to discuss efforts to stabilise the financial system. The sharp declines came as a near-three-week ban on short selling of nearly 1,000 companies was lifted Wednesday night. Some blamed renewed short selling for aggravating the downward momentum in the market. But others said the market was already vulnerable to sharp declines amid a dearth of buying interest and a late flurry of investor redemptions from mutual funds and margin calls being met before the market closed.
