World Bank's gloomy forecast dooms stocks

The World Bank's forecast of a deeper-than-feared recession this year followed by a weaker-than-hoped-for recovery in 2010 evidently came as a nasty surprise to investors betting on a robust economic recovery in the months ahead. After news of the revised outlook hit, The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 201 points, or 2.35 percent, to close at 8,339. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell even more.

With hopes for a speedy return to economic growth dashed for now, commodity prices fell, taking producers like Alcoa (AA), Chevron (CVX) and ExxonMobil (XOM) with them. But financials were hit hard, too. Bank of America (BAC) lost the most of any of the Dow's 30 component stocks, plunging 9.7 percent.

For more on stocks making moves today, be sure to check out BloggingStocks' market wrap-up.