Financial stocks were among the biggest losers of Thursday's session, extending the stock market's swoon to fresh multiyear lows, as the deadline on a temporary ban on short-selling ended.

The three-week halt on

short-selling

of stocks in the sector was lifted just before midnight. The

Securities and Exchange Commission

had implemented the rule on Sept. 19 as an emergency measure to help stem the selling in bank stocks.

The latest selloff in the group came as credit markets continued to tighten despite emergency rate cuts Wednesday by the

Federal Reserve

and other central banks in Europe and Canada. The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

, which has several bank stocks as components, slid below the 9,000 level for the first time since August 2003.

Among Dow components,

American Express

(AXP) - Get Report

was falling 7.2%,

Citigroup

(C) - Get Report

was losing 6%, and

Bank of America

(BAC) - Get Report

fell 4.9%.

JPMorgan Chase

(JPM) - Get Report

bucked the trend, rising 1%.

Wachovia

(WB) - Get Report

, which is still the subject of a battle between

Citigroup

and

Wells Fargo

(WFC) - Get Report

, was tumbling 24.5% to $3.82. Wells Fargo was down 16.8% to $26.54.

Insurers were mixed, as

AIG

(AIG) - Get Report

slumped 21% to $2.52, while

MetLife

(MET) - Get Report

tacked on 2.2% to $27.58.

Hartford Financial

(HIG) - Get Report

, which was reportedly approached by

MetLife

for a potential merger, was down 10.6% to $22.22.

Elsewhere,

Morgan Stanley

(MS) - Get Report

and

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Report

were also among the worst performers of the day. Morgan was dropping 19% to $13.61, and Goldman was off 10.3% at $101.36.