Wall Street tumbles as investors dump financials

NEW YORK - Investors are back to worrying about banks.

Unease about soured loans bubbled over Monday after Bank of America Corp. set aside $13.4 billion to cover lending losses even as it posted earnings that beat expectations. Other big banks have also increased loss provisions in recent weeks.

Bank of America shares plunged 24 percent.

At the close of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average is down about 290 points, or 3.5 percent, to the 7,842 level. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down 37, or 4.3 percent, at 833, and the Nasdaq composite index is down 65, or 3.9 percent, at 1,608.

Traders had been looking for some pullback after the Dow jumped 24 percent from 12-year lows in early March, led largely by a recovery in banking stocks.

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