NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks plunged as a drop in consumer spending fanned worries that the economic recovery won't be sustainable.
The drop Friday has erased the gains from the market's best day in three months on Thursday.
Investors dumped stocks after the government said personal spending fell 0.5 percent in September, the largest drop in nine months.
A rising dollar is also hurting stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average is down 250 at 9,712. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down 30 at 1,036. And the Nasdaq composite index is down 52 at 2,045.
Five stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 1.6 billion shares compared with 1.5 billion Thursday.
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