Afternoon Markets: Dow dives as miner falls mount

The Dow Jones plummeted in early trading today as commodity prices continued to fall. At 10:50am,...

The Dow Jones plummeted in early trading today as commodity prices continued to fall. At 10:50am, the benchmark index had more than reversed Friday's minor gains, sliding 197.63 points (2.25%) to 8,601.63. Stocks leading the losses included aluminum producer Alcoa, down 5.18% to $11.37, and Caterpillar, which slipped 3.71% to $36.33. The price of oil has also dropped to about $3 to $71 a barrel, as the dollar rose and violent protests continued in Iran, an Opec member. Meanwhile, London's benchmark FTSE 100 has failed to recover from the early morning losses. By 3:47pm the blue-chip...