Business news with words drop+plunged. 50 news.

The housing market plunged deeper into despair last month, with sales of new homes plummeting to their lowest level in more than 12 years. The slump worsened even more than most analysts expected, heightening fears that the country might be thrust into...

AP - The housing market plunged deeper into despair last month, with sales of new homes plummeting to their lowest level in more than 12 years.

CENTRAL Japan Railway Co, the nation's largest bullet train operator, plunged the most in 10 years on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after announcing a 5.1-trillion yen (US$45 billion) plan to build a maglev train link. The stock fell 8.9 percent to close at 1.03 million yen. It was the biggest one-day drop since October 8, 1997, Bloomberg News reported. The benchmark Topix index rose 0.8 percent. Central Japan Railway, also known as JR Central, wants to build the magnetic levitation link by 2025 as an alternative to its Shinkansen bullet train line that covers 290 kilometers between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya. The Nagoya-based company is considering "various ways" to finance the project, Mitsuru Nakamura, an executive director, told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. "It's going to be a big burden on the company," said Tsuyoshi Segawa, an equity strategist at Shinko Securities Co in Tokyo. "Some investors are selling shares as they are worried that the

Shares of Sunnyvale-based Pharmacyclics plunged more than 26 percent Monday - the fourth-biggest drop in its history - after federal regulators refused to approve its drug Xcytrin to treat patients whose lung cancer has spread to their brain.

Shares of Sunnyvale-based Pharmacyclics plunged more than 26 percent Monday - the fourth biggest drop in its history - after federal regulators refused to approve its drug Xcytrin to treat patients whose lung cancer has spread to their brain.

Vote/comment: When will market improve? | Local home sales, more Home sales plunged 36.2 percent last month in nine counties around San Francisco Bay, marking the biggest annual drop for November in the past 20 years, a real estate tracking firm said Thursday.

Home values in six Southern California counties sank last month to levels not seen since 2005 as prices plunged 10.3 percent - the sharpest annual decline for any month in 20 years, a real estate data firm said Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES - The median home price in six Southern California counties plunged 10.3 percent in November, marking the biggest annual drop for any month in 20 years, a real estate survey said Tuesday.

SHARES in BHP Billiton have plunged today after the company suspended the $US10 billion ($11.63 billion) buyback of its London-listed stock and Rio Tinto stock has also fallen hard.

ASIAN stocks fell last week, dragging a key stock index to its biggest decline in four months as a United States interest-rate cut failed to ease concern that the world's largest economy will slide into a recession. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, Japan's biggest bank by market value, and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korea's largest exporter, led the decline after the Federal Reserve said the US economy is slowing. BHP Billiton Ltd, the world's largest miner, dropped after metal prices fell. "Market sentiment has been shaken," said Yang Haeman, who manages the equivalent of almost US$1 billion at NH-CA Asset Management in Seoul. "A US slowdown is already quite certain and investors now are also worried that this will result in a global slowdown." The MSCI Asia Pacific Index last week plunged 4.7 percent to 156.78. The drop was the most since the week ended August 17. Concern that losses tied to the US subprime market will derail global growth prompted

UNITED Kingdom commercial real estate returns have fallen by a record amount last month as higher interest rates and a drop in bank lending pushed prices down, according to Investment Property Databank Ltd, a London-based research firm. The total return on investments, after taking rental income and growth into account, slumped 3.6 percent in November. That's twice the size of the last record decline, a 1.8-percent fall in returns in May 1990, IPD said in an e-mailed statement. The value of shops, offices and warehouses plunged four percent in November after a 1.9-percent decline in October, Bloomberg News said. Four straight monthly falls in property returns have cost investors 1.8 percent of their money this year. Commercial property is set to break its streak of being the only UK asset to have made money for investors every year since 1992 as appraisers mark down prices in the wake of the credit squeeze.

NEW YORK -- Treasury prices plunged Wednesday after the Federal Reserve and other central banks announced an ambitious, coordinated program that investors hope will avert a year-end liquidity crisis.

Treasury prices plunged dramatically Wednesday after the Federal Reserve and other central banks announced an ambitious coordinated that program investors hope will avert a year-end liquidity crisis.

NEW YORK, Dec. 11 -- Stocks plunged Tuesday after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by a quarter point, disappointing investors who hoped it would move more aggressively to help the economy overcome the credit and mortgage crisis.

OIL'S rise to US$100 a barrel, which seemed a done deal as recently as two days ago, was dealt a severe blow yesterday when the US government reported an increase in stocks at the Nymex delivery terminal in Cushing, Oklahoma, which is closely watched by traders as a benchmark of oil inventory tightness. Anemic growth in demand and a jump in refinery activity also weighed on prices, which have dropped sharply in recent days on concerns about the economy and expectations supplies will grow. "The report ... added to the bearish sentiment in the market," said Eric Wittenauer, an energy analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc in St. Louis. "It comes at a period in time when OPEC is boosting production ... and considering another increase in production." Light, sweet crude for January delivery plunged US$3.80 to settle at US$90.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following Tuesday's drop of US$3.28 a barrel. That was crude's second largest two-day

AP - Third-quarter profits at federally insured banks and thrifts plunged to a four-year low as large institutions set aside billions to cover losses from bad mortgages, data released Wednesday show.

WASHINGTON -- Third-quarter profits at federally insured banks and thrifts plunged to a four-year low as large institutions set aside billions to cover losses from bad mortgages, data released Wednesday show.

UNITED States stocks posted their third weekly drop this month last Friday after the Federal Reserve reduced its economic growth outlook, Freddie Mac reported a record loss and Lowe's Cos slashed its profit forecast. Freddie Mac plunged the most since going public in 1988 and led financial shares lower after losses on mortgage securities prompted it to seek a capital infusion. Lowe's, the second-largest home-improvement retailer, fell the most in five years after same-store sales slipped for the fifth straight quarter. Miners and computer-related companies also fell amid speculation that tighter credit and weak consumer spending will slow the world's largest economy through next year. The Fed cut its 2008 growth forecast to as low as 1.8 percent, down from the 2.5 percent to 2.75 percent anticipated in June, Bloomberg News said. "The housing overhang continues to be a major problem for the economy," said Barry James, who helps manage about US$2.1 billion as president

AP - Industrial production plunged in October by the largest amount in nine months, reflecting a big drop in utility output and continued troubles in autos and housing-related industries.

Industrial production plunged in October by the largest amount in nine months, reflecting a big...