Wall Street fell sharply to 18-month low levels as credit concerns rattled the market and lacklustre retail sales compounded worries about the economy.

The biggest causes for the sell-off were that home foreclosures climbed to record levels and thornburg mortgage and a carlyle group bond fund missed margin calls.

On the economic front, existing-home sales were unchanged in january from december, though still down 20 percent year on year and jobless claims fell more than expected last week.

Financials extended losses and dropped for the sixth day. Merrill Lynch hits 52-week low when the company disclosed that it amended the terms of a series of its liquid yield option notes.

Shares of Fannie and Freddie fell to their lowest levels in more than a decade.

Reports suggest that ubs may face further write-downs.

The Dow plunged 214.60 points, or 1.75%, to 12,040.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 29.36 points, or 2.20%, to 1,304.34, and the Nasdaq composite fell 52.31 points, or 2.30%, to 2,220.50.

A look at how the Indian ADRs performed:

Name Infosys Sify Rediff.com India Satyam Wipro ICICI Bank HDFC Bank MTNL Tata Comm Dr Reddy's Lab Tata Motors Patni Computer Sterlite Ind

Symbol INFY SIFY REDF SAY WIT IBN HDB MTE TCL RDY TTM PTI SLT

Price 37.03 4.58 7.84 24.78 11.25 45.38 100.00 5.65 23.63 14.09 16.91 11.09 19.44

Change -1.16 0.09 -0.29 -1.00 -0.59 -1.91 -5.74 -0.23 -0.82 -0.47 -0.37 0.12 -0.44

Change% -3.04% 2.00% -3.57% -3.88% -4.98% -4.04% -5.43% -3.91% -3.35% -3.23% -2.14% 1.09% -2.21%

Volume 3,512,472 137,488 77,901 736,301 351,668 3,702,036 684,192 129,980 73,900 155,785 771,127 125,309 780,446

High 38.33 4.59 8.14 25.55 11.68 47.25 105.18 5.90 24.40 14.54 17.37 1.17 19.94

Low 37.01 4.41 7.84 24.66 11.15 44.98 99.00 5.62 22.99 14.09 16.89 10.82 19.35