dow futures reach limit down

GULP!!!

S&P 500, Dow Average Futures Reach `Limit Down' Level (Update1)

By Sarah Jones and Alexis Xydias

Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Trading in futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been limited after declines in the contracts of more than 6 percent triggered a so-called limit down restriction.

The S&P 500 futures will not trade below 855.20 until U.S. exchanges open for regular trading at 9:30 a.m. New York time, said Jeremy Hughes, a London-based spokesman for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Dow Average futures won't trade below the 8,224 level, he said. The ``limit down'' suspension allows both contracts to trade above those levels, he said.

Stocks tumbled around the world today and U.S. index futures fell on deepening concern the global economic slump will crimp corporate earnings.