Stocks Plunge as Market Enters ‘Correction’ Territory<br />Earlier Thursday, the Bank of England said as much, strengthening its forecasts for economic growth and stating<br />that it may have to raise interest rates “somewhat earlier and to a somewhat greater extent than we thought in November.”<br />That statement sent up interest rates — or yields — on British government bonds, known as gilts.<br />In the face of broad global growth, some think the central banks will raise interest rates faster than previously<br />expected, eroding a crucial source of confidence that the stock market climb would continue.<br />Major stock indexes suffered a steep drop in late trading on Thursday, the second-straight day that stocks dived shortly before the markets closed.<br />Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index<br />Scale is logarithmic to show<br />comparable percentage changes<br />Scale is logarithmic to<br />The current bull market is up almost 300 percent since March 2009.
