Around the World's Markets: New York

THE MAGIC 10,000 is proving tough to hold: after spiking to 10,085 in early trading, the Dow was torpedoed by a big sell-off of IBM after Morgan Stanley cut its price target. The Dow ended down 94.07 points, or 0.94 per cent, at 9,903.55 on heavy volume amid Wall Street's "triple witching" - the expiration of futures and options contracts.

The S&P500 fell 17.26 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 1,299.27, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 41.64 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 2,421.32, its worst decline in a month.