S&P 500 and the Economy Car makers come begging

U.S. stocks fell and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid below its lowest close since 2003 on growing concern over the fate of the nation's car industry and economic data signaling the recession is deepening.

General Motors Corp. tumbled 15 percent and Ford Motor Co. lost 25 percent as auto executives pleaded to Congress for federal aid. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Cisco Systems Inc. and General Electric Co. helped lead declines after government reports showed consumer prices decreased by the most on record and housing starts sank to an all-time low. Citigroup Inc. slid 9.6 percent on the fifth-biggest U.S. bank's plan to buy $17.4 billion of assets from structured investment vehicles it advises.

The S&P 500 slipped 2.9 percent to 833.98 at 12:45 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 163.76 points, or 1.9 percent, to 8,260.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 3.3 percent to 1,434.49. Almost 11 stocks fell for each that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
U.S. builders in October broke ground on the fewest new homes and obtained permits for future construction at the lowest levels on record, signs the housing slump may extend into a fourth year. Construction starts on housing fell 4.5 percent in October, less than economists forecast, to an annual rate of 791,000 that was the lowest since records began in 1959, the Commerce Department said. Building permits, a sign of future residential projects, dropped 12 percent to a 708,000 pace, the lowest since at least 1960.

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