Stocks take steep tumble

A trader works on the floor of the NYSE
A trader works on the floor during the closing minutes of trading at the New York Stock Exchange. For the second day in a row, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than 400 points in the final hour of trading.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Stocks tumbled more than 400 points in the final minutes of trading to levels not seen since 2002 as hopes fade that lawmakers will soon put together an aid package for the U.S. automakers.

The pullback for the second straight day Thursday sent the Standard & Poor's 500 index down 6.2 percent to 756.81, below the low of 768.63 seen on Oct. 10, 2002.

The Dow Jones industrial average at times lost more than 400 points, falling 4.6 percent, to the 7,636 level, moving below the 7,882.51 low logged Oct. 10 of this year.