US STOCKS-Losses at Alcoa, GM cloud global outlook

                                
 * Investors fret about deepening global slump
                                
 * Commodity, energy, tech shares among top drags
                                
 * Alcoa slashes capacity as global demand wanes
                                
 * Dow and Nasdaq off 3 pct, S&P 500 off 3.3 pct
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, please click on
[STXNEWS/US]
 (Updates to midmorning)
                                
 By Ellis Mnyandu
                                
 NEW YORK, Nov 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks tumbled as
production cuts at aluminum maker Alcoa, fears of a cash drain
at automaker General Motors and signs the Chinese economy is
faltering heightened fears of a global economic slump.
                                
 The diminishing appetite for risky assets, including
stocks, roiled markets across Asia overnight and pushed
European shares down 4 percent or more.
                                
 Selling was widespread. Commodity-related shares and
technology bellwethers took the brunt losses, including Google
Inc <GOOG.O> down nearly 5 percent.
                                
 Alcoa <AA.N> , a Dow component, slid 8 percent to $10.79
after the company slashed a further 350,000 tonnes of
aluminum-making capacity worldwide, blaming faltering global
demand. [ID:nSYD388798]
                                
 General Motors <GM.N> slid for fifth straight day, falling
more than 16 percent to $2.80, as investors fretted about
prospects for the U.S. auto sector to secure a desperately
needed cash infusion from the government.
                                
 "The credit problems and the lack of lending has led to a
lack of stimulus for a lot of different companies," said
Stephen Carl, principal and head of U.S. equity trading at The
Williams Capital Group LP in New York. "More news is going to
come out in the negative vein. You don't know where the bottom
is."
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> slid 274.31 points,
or 3.09 percent, to 8,596.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> dropped 30.76 points, or 3.35 percent, to 888.45. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> plummeted 48.34 points, or 2.99
percent, to 1,568.40.
                                
 In the latest sign of the fallout from the economic
upheaval, Chinese import growth slowed in October and inflation
fell to a 17-month low as demand cooled. For details, see
[ID:nSP418906]
                                
 The market's slide puts the market in a precarious position
as investors had hoped the start of November would mark a
start of sustained recovery after a disastrous October sent
stocks to their lowest levels in more than five years.
                                
 Other decliners included oil companies Chevron <CVX.N>
dropped 2.9 percent to $72.09, while Exxon Mobil <XOM.N>
declined 2.7 percent to $72.10.
                                
 Shares of Google fell almost 5 percent to $303.27, making
the Web search leader the second top drag on Nasdaq, behind
Apple <AAPL.O> , off 3 percent at $93.03.
                                
 Goldman Sachs slashed its price target on Google, as well
as its fourth-quarter revenue view for the Internet company.
                                
 Technology services giant International Business Machines
Corp <IBM.N> weighed on the Dow, with a drop of almost 4
percent to $80.75.
                                
 Starbucks Corp <SBUX.O>  shares fell 3.4 percent to $9.85
on Nasdaq after the coffee chain operator cut its plans for new
international coffee shops and effectively slashed its outlook
following a steeper-than-expected slide in fourth-quarter
profit. [ID:nN10473608]
                                
 Trading volumes were thin, with other market participants
away and the bond market closed for the Veterans Day holiday.
                                
(Editing by Kenneth Barry)