Another slump for New York shares

Even good news on retailing was not enough to stop the fall

New York shares have fallen sharply as renewed concerns about the credit market outweighed evidence of a strong weekend's retailing.

The Dow Jones ended the day down 237.44 points or 1.83% at 12743.44.

The banking sector took a hit after Citigroup warned that it is looking to cut costs while HSBC said it plans to bail out two funds it manages.

Data showed retail sales in the key two days after Thanksgiving rose 7.2% to $16.4bn (£7.9bn) from last year.

The figures came from ShopperTrak, which checks sales at more than 50,000 US retail outlets.

The S&P 500 Index fell 33.49 points or 2.32% to 1,407.21 while the technology dominated Nasdaq fell 55.61 points or 2.14% to 2,540.99.

All three key indexes ended the day more than 10% below their high-points for the year.

Despite the better news from the retail sector, the top faller on the Dow Jones was the DIY chain Home Deport, which fell 5%.

Home Depot has been hit by the continuing slump in the housing market, of which there was further evidence as the bank UBS delivered an unfavourable verdict on the two biggest mortgage financing companies: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.