Stocks Cratering; Dow Down 360

The U.S. stock market is entering free fall mode in Wednesday afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost more than 360 points and was trading at 11,806 at last check. The S&P 500 has plunged nearly 42 points, or 3.28%, to 1,234 while the Nasdaq is down nearly 92 points or 3.36% to 2,635. The move is coming on the heels of spreading contagion in the Eurozone with Italian bond yields hitting all-time highs. The political situation is also disintegrating as both the Greek prime minister George Papandreou and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi have announced their resignations. Major financial stocks such as Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) are being sold off mercilessly in the session. MS shares are down more than 8% to $15.91 while C has lost 7% to $29.21. Major BRIC country ETFs are also getting decimated. The Market Vector Russia ETF Trust (NYSE: RSX) has lost an unreal 8% and is trading at $29.27. The iPath India Index ETN (NYSE: INP) is down 5.22% and the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index ETF (NYSE: FXI) has lost 6% to $36.61. The ETF which tracks Brazilian stocks, the iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF (NYSE: EWZ), is also getting hammered, falling 5% to $59.97. This is a global sell-off and it appears to be accelerating into the close of trading in the United States.