Wall Street tumbles; Dow at 12-year low & Asia trading weak; Nikkei slips 2.6%...

Wall Street's woes continued unabated as US market slid to their lowest close in 12 years on Tuesday despite a rally in stocks of the financial sector. While there was good news for investors who cheered the news that the US government was not looking to completely nationalise the banking industry, economic gloom brought down the tech leaders and with them, the rest of the markets.

Worries about a decline in business and consumer spending on technology hurt the biggest names in the tech sector. IBM and Hewlett-Packard were the two of the biggest drags. On closing bell, the Dow plunged 250.89 points or 3.41%, to 7,114.78. The S&P 500 Index shed 26.72 points or 3.47% to end at 743.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 53.51 points or 3.71% to close at 1,387.72.