US STOCKS-S&P dives to lowest level since 1997, Dell jumps late

                                
  * Energy shares fall along with oil
  * Financials, Citigroup slide
  * Democrats set Dec. 2 for automakers to offer plan
  * Jobless claims exacerbate economic jitters
  * Dow off 5.6 pct, S&P 500 off 6.7 pct, Nasdaq off  5.1 pct
  * For up-to-the-minute market news, please click on
STXNEWS/US
 (Adds Dell, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after the bell)
                                
 By Leah Schnurr
                                
 NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks plunged yet again
on Thursday, as a frantic flight from risk prompted by
investors' deepening economic fears drove the benchmark
Standard & Poor's 500 index to its lowest level since 1997 --
completing the erasure of more than a decade of stock market
gains.
                                
 The latest leg down in what has been a 13-month whipping
of equities worldwide was led by the year's weakest links:
banks, commodity producers and car makers.
                                
 The S&P 500 is now more than 52 percent below its October
2007 record high, making the current bear market the second
biggest on record. The current decline is exceeded only by the
83 percent drop between 1930 and 1932, according to the Stock
Trader's Almanac.
                                
 "People are looking for light at the end of the tunnel and
people don't see anything," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader
at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.
                                
 On Thursday, the price of oil hurtled below $50 a barrel,
taking energy shares with it as dismal U.S. economic data
intensified concerns of a long and deep global recession,
crushing fuel demand expectations. Chevron <CVX.N> tumbled
more than 8 percent and dragged the most on the Dow.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> plunged 444.99
points, or 5.56 percent, to 7,552.29. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> lost 54.14 points, or 6.71 percent, to
752.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> slid 70.30 points,
or 5.07 percent, to 1,316.12.
                                
 DELL CLIMBS AFTER SOLID EARNINGS
                                
 But after the closing bell, a bright spot emerged when
shares of Dell Inc <DELL.O> rose 6.3 percent to $10.43 after
the world's No. 2 PC maker reported better-than-expected
profit as cost cuts tempered lower revenue. [ID:nN20401261].
                                
 And in another positive development after hours, Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, the two biggest home loan finance
companies, said they would suspend foreclosures of occupied
homes until early 2009 -- one of the biggest moves to date by
the government to staunch the wave of evictions and home
losses. [ID:nN20621384].
                                
 Earlier on Thursday, the number of American workers on the
unemployment rolls surged to the highest in a quarter century,
government data showed, while a regional manufacturing gauge
slumped as the economic misery intensified.
                                
 Financial stocks helped lead the way lower. Citigroup
<C.N> dove 26.4 percent to $4.71 on growing worries about
whether the second-largest U.S. bank has enough capital to
withstand billions of dollars of additional loan losses,
overshadowing fresh support from Saudi Prince Alwaleed, its
largest individual investor. [ID:nLK678894]
                                
 An S&P index of financial shares <.GSPF> tumbled 10.5
percent. JPMorgan Chase & Co<JPM.N> was the second-heaviest
weight on the Dow, falling 17.9 percent to $23.38.
                                
 DETROIT'S BAILOUT HITS SPEED BUMP
                                
 Further uncertainty over the prospects for a bailout for
struggling automakers added to the gloom. Democratic leaders
warned the bill would not pass unless it included a plan for
the industry to return to profitability. For details, see
[ID:nSP414881].
                                
 Shares of General Motors <GM.N> and Ford <F.N> were tied
to the bailout news, ending higher after falling sharply
earlier in the day. GM rose 3.2 percent to $2.88, while Ford
advanced 10.3 percent to $1.39.
                                
 Democratic leaders said automakers can submit another plan
by Dec. 2, adding that the proposal could be considered the
week of Dec. 8.
                                
 In the energy sector, Chevron dropped 8.8 percent to
$64.40, while an S&P index of energy companies <.GSPE> tumbled
11.2 percent.
                                
 U.S. front-month crude oil <CLc1> fell $4.00 to settle at
$49.62 a barrel, the lowest settlement since May 23, 2005.
                                
 Volume was heavy on the New York Stock Exchange, where
about 2.23 billion shares changed hands, above last year's
estimated daily average of 1.90 billion, while on the Nasdaq,
about 3.15 billion shares traded, well above last year's daily
average of 2.17 billion.
                                
Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a ratio of
13 to 1, while on the Nasdaq, nearly seven stocks fell for
every one that rose.