Dow Plummets a Record 108.36 in Wild Session : Investors Unnerved by Market’s Recent Slide; 338 Million Shares Change Hands

Stock prices plunged again in a wild session today, sending the Dow Jones industrial index to its first 100-point drop ever on record trading volume.

Preliminary figures showed the Dow Jones average of 30 industrials down 108.364 points at 2,246.73.

Declining issues overpowered advances by more than 15 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Big Board volume hit 338.48 million shares, eclipsing the previous high of 302.39 million set last Jan. 23.

The NYSE’s composite index tumbled 8.32 to 159.13.

The strong upward pressure on interest rates that has weighed on the market lately let up a bit in the bond market today.

But analysts said many investors were unnerved by the recent slide in stock prices, which as of Thursday’s close had pushed the Dow Jones industrial index down 13.5% since late August.

“It’s extremely emotional. People are dumping stocks with reckless abandon,” said Newton Zinder, a veteran market analyst at E. F. Hutton & Co. “As trite as it may sound, the market is going down because it’s going down.”

Like several other analysts, Zinder said the market was behaving as it has in past “climactic” selloffs that are often followed by rallies in stock prices.

“I think we’re getting very close to a vigorous trading rally,” he said.

Bond prices broke out of their slump in early trading today, although many dealers credited the rebound mainly to technical factors.

The Treasury’s bellwether 30-year bond, which on Thursday lost about 1/2 point, or $5 per $1,000 face amount, gained about $3.75 by midday. Its yield, which moves inversely to its price, eased to 10.16% from 10.22%.

The Labor Department said today that wholesale prices climbed 0.3% last month as higher food prices and increases across a wide range of goods were partially offset by a drop in energy costs.

In advance of the report, economists had predicted that a sharp rise in the Labor Department’s producer price index could trigger further rises in interest rates in already jittery credit markets.

Because transmission was delayed by heavy volume, today’s stock tables are as of noon.