NEW YORK, Oct 12: Stocks tumbled in midday trading on Friday as worries about the possibility of more attacks on the United States roiled Wall Street.

“News about an NBC employee testing positive for anthrax rolled the market over, because if there’s a broader terrorist threat, it makes the battle against terrorism a lot closer to home than Afghanistan and it shakes consumer confidence a great deal,” said Robert Cohen, head of trading at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Stocks already had sunk as worries about sliding retail sales weighed and credit card issuer Providian Financial Corp. stunned Wall Street with its warning that earnings will fall much more than previously projected, because of higher credit losses.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average fell 187.10 points, or 1.99%, to 9,223.35, and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 21.55 points, or 1.96 per cent, to 1,075.88. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index shed 35.64 points, or 2.09 per cent, to 1,665.83.

UK shares dip: Britain’s FTSE-100 index dipped on Friday after weak US retail sales data rekindled fears of recession, but still managed to end the week two per cent above its level before last month’s attacks on the United States.

The FTSE 100 index closed down 19.4 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,145.5, after running up to 5,187.5 in early trading but falling back to 5,081.2 later in the day.—Reuters