STOCKS PLUNGE, WIPING OUT GAINS FOR THE YEAR

Another torrent of selling gripped Wall Street on Wednesday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting more than 600 points and extending a losing streak for the benchmark S&P 500 index to a sixth session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite bore the brunt of the sell-off, leaving it more than 10 percent below its August peak, what Wall Street calls a “correction.” The Dow and S&P 500 erased their gains for the year.