Wall Street Tumbles as Job Losses, Bad Mortgages Pile Up

In other company news, The Wall Street Journal said airplane manufacturer Boeing (BA Quote) may face additional delays for its 787 jet.

Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch (MER Quote) shareholders voted Friday to approve a merger with Bank of America (BAC Quote).

Insurer Hartford (HIG Quote) increased its 2008 earnings guidance to exceed Wall Street's consensus estimate.

As for analyst actions, Morgan Stanley cut its fourth-quarter earnings estimates for Goldman Sachs (GS Quote). Barclays also lowered its targets and estimates for chemical firm DuPont (DD Quote), chipmaker Intel (INTC Quote) and pharmaceutical company Merck (MRK Quote).

Shifting to commodities, crude oil was shedding $2.35 to $41.32 a barrel. Gold was falling $17 to $748.50 an ounce.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were mixed. The 10-year was losing 8/32 to yield 2.57%, and the 30-year was up 24/32, yielding 3.01%.

Overseas, European exchanges such as the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt were trading lower. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei closed with losses, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended with gains.