Stocks were down sharply but off their worst lows of the day in mid-morning trading today after a rash of negative earnings reports renewed fears that economies in the U.S. and elsewhere are headed into a deep recession. At 9:30 a.m. Pacific time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 240.94 points, or 2.7%, at 8,792.72. The Dow was down 411 points within minutes of the opening of bell before rebounding a bit. The Standard & Poor’s 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index were down 2.8% and 1.5%, respectively — also up from their worst levels of the morning. For full story visit: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-markets23-2008oct23,0,4030978.story
