Wall Street plunges as fiscal cliff, European crisis regain attention

NEW YORK, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks plunged Wednesday, with all three major indexes tumbling more than 2 percent, as investors quickly reawakened to the reality of an impending fiscal disaster in the U.S. and a festering crisis in Europe.

When the market closed, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 312.95 points, or 2.36 percent, to 12,932.73. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 plummeted 33.86 points, or 2.37 percent, to 1,394.53. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index plunged 74.64 points, or 2.48 percent, to 2,937.29.

Major indexes initially got a short boost after incumbent U.S. President Barack Obama won the re-election as investors believed that the stimulus measures would continue to boost the country's economic growth.

However, the "Obama bounce" faded quickly after the latest data showed industrial production fell for a second month in Germany, spurring concerns for further economic slowdown in the strongest economy of the region.

Fears intensified in the market as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the debt crisis was starting to hurt Germany.

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