US stocks plunged yesterday as positive corporate earnings were tempered by ongoing interest-rate jitters and profit-taking after a record day on the NASDAQ market on Monday. Investor sentiment was further soured by news of the coup in Pakistan.

By late morning, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 111 points, or 1.04 per cent, at 10,537, setting the tone for the rest of the day's trading, which saw the index slide by 231.12 points, or 2.17 per cent, to 10,417.06.

"Today they're really walloping the Dow," said Mr Doug Myers, vice president of equity trading at Wachovia Securities in Atlanta. "They're really leaning on things like airline and health care stocks."