Stocks fall as China crimps bank lending

Investors' growing anxiety about China's attempts to slow its economy and disappointing U.S. earnings reports led to another selloff in stocks Wednesday.

Demand for safe havens like government debt rose, pushing yields lower in Treasuries.

The concern in the markets is that China's drive to clamp down on bank lending could endanger a global economic recovery. That helped send the dollar higher against other currencies and pushed commodity prices lower, which hurt stocks of energy and materials companies.

Investors have been shuttling between heavy buying and selling in recent sessions as they try to determine where the market is headed this year.

The Dow fell 122.28 points, or 1.1 percent, to 10,603.15, its biggest point loss since Dec. 17 and its biggest percentage drop since Dec. 31. It had been down as much as 208 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 12.19, or 1.1 percent, to 1,138.04, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 29.15, or 1.3 percent, to 2,291.25.-AP