Banking shares plummet on economic slowdown fears

Shares of large banks and other financial stocks were pummelled on Wall Street Monday as fears of a US economic slowdown heightened worries over deteriorating credit quality. US banks were broadly lower, but the hardest-hit included Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, all down 6.0 percent or more in afternoon trade. A slowing economy translates into higher loan defaults, weaker credit quality and lower interest rates, all of which are bad for bank profits, said Jim Sine