Wall Street Falls Hard

Updated from 4:08 p.m. EST

Stocks closed sharply lower Thursday as the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and weaker-than-expected domestic economic data kept buyers sidelined all session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 192.08 points, or 1.42%, to 13,359.61, while the S&P 500 lost 21.39 points, or 1.43%, to 1476.27. The Nasdaq Composite was off 47.62 points, or 1.75%, at 2676.79.

Breadth was decidedly negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, 2.31 billion shares changed hands, and volume on the Nasdaq reached 1.40 billion shares. Losers outpaced winners 3 to 1.

Equities were under pressure in part because of violence in south Asia, where Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister, was killed by a gunman and bomber at a political rally.

Gold futures topped $830 an ounce and crude oil closed in on $97 a barrel after the news of her death. U.S. Treasury prices rallied, as well, with the 10-year note rising 22/32 in price, yielding 4.19%. The 30-year bond jumped 1-6/32 in price, yielding 4.60%.

There was also disappointment on the economic front after the Commerce Department said durable goods orders rose an anemic 0.1% last month, compared with expectations of a 2.5% increase.

In another report, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose by 1,000 claims last week to 349,000 claims. Economists had expected claims would fall to 340,000. The four-week moving average slipped by 1,000 to 342,500.