Dow skids 723 points, U.S. stocks drop as Credit Suisse woes rattle markets

U.S. stocks were touching fresh session lows in early afternoon trade Wednesday as shares of Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse tumbled to a record low. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-1.64%
was off 721 points, or 2.2%, near 31,434, while the S&P 500 index
SPX,
-1.49%
shed 2% and the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
-0.87%
was down 1.5%.

“With the Credit Suisse situation, the market is looking at the possibility of an extension of the banking crisis,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, pointing to pressures on shares of U.S. regional banks.