Stocks fall in new Wall Street landscape

Investors are concerned about the opening of trading today.

NEW YORK (AP) — A stunning makeover of the Wall Street landscape sent stocks falling precipitously Monday, with the Dow Jones industrials sliding 500 points in their worst point drop since the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Investors reacted badly to a shakeup of the financial industry that took out two storied names: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co.

Stocks also posted big losses in markets across much of the globe as investors absorbed Lehman’s bankruptcy filing and what was essentially a forced sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America for $50 billion in stock. While those companies’ situations had reached some resolution, the market remained anxious about American International Group Inc., which is seeking emergency funding to shore up its balance sheet. A faltering of the world’s largest insurance company likely would have financial implications far beyond that of Lehman, the largest U.S. bankruptcy in terms of assets.

The swift developments that took place Sunday are the biggest yet in the 14-month-old credit crises that stems from now toxic subprime mortgage debt. For the first part of Monday’s trading, the market was falling, but in a largely orderly fashion as investors seemed to draw some relief from the resolution of Lehman’s problems.

But as the session wore on, and there was no word about AIG, the market’s suffered another bout of fear the ongoing credit crisis will continue to devastate the financial sector, and selling accelerated in the final hour. Selling then took on more momentum as stock indexes broke through levels seen at the market’s earlier lows in July, an ominous sign for some traders.

Investors are worried that trouble at AIG and the bankruptcy filing by Lehman, felled by $60 billion in bad debt and a dearth of investor confidence, will touch off another series of troubles for banks and financial institutions that may be forced to further write down the value of their own debt assets.

AIG’s troubles are worrisome for some investors because of the company’s enormous balance sheet and the risks that troubles with that company’s finances could spill over to the companies with which it does business. AIG, one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow industrials, fell $7.38, or 61 percent, to $4.76 Monday as investors worried that it would be the subject of downgrades from credit ratings agencies.

The market was expected to remain fractious when trading resumes Tuesday. Besides its continuing concerns about AIG, Wall Street will be waiting anxiously for the Federal Reserve’s regular policy-making meeting. The central bank is widely expected to keep rates steady, but the market will be looking for signs from the Fed it is willing to lower rates amid the nation’s continuing economic problems and also because the price of oil has retreated sharply from its highs of $147 in mid-July.