U.S. Stocks Post Steepest Yearly Decline Since Great Depression

(Bloomberg) U.S. stocks plunged the most in 2008 since the Great Depression as financial shares collapsed, energy and metal producers tumbled and the world’s biggest economy suffered a yearlong recession.

Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. retreated more than 60 percent as 80 out of the 84 financial institutions in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. fell as the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials dropped a record 36 percent. Caterpillar Inc. sank 38 percent as the U.S., Europe and Japan experienced the first simultaneous contractions since World War II.

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