Stocks tumble as bailout plan fails in House

By Tim Paradis

NEW YORK- Wall Street has ended a stunning session with a huge loss, with the Dow Jones industrials plunging more than 735 points – their largest point drop ever – after the failure of the financial bailout plan in the House.

Stunned traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange watched on TV screens as the House voted down the plan. And they saw stock prices tumbling on their monitors.

The plan’s failure means no one knows how the financial sector hobbled by hundreds of billions of dollars in bad mortgage bets will recover. The credit markets remain close to frozen as banks are too afraid to lend – including loans to to other banks.

The Dow is down about 738 points at the 10404 level.