Dow Plummets 266: Market's Worst Day in 5 Months

The stock market suffered its worst loss in five months today as China posted lower-than-expected growth and the Boston Marathon bombing added a late wave of anxiety, TheStreet and Wall Street Journal report.The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 266 points, gold fell by 9.4%, and the S&P dropped by 37. The China worry: Its growth fell to only 7.7%. "We have to agree: 7.7% growth is not a low growth rate ... for most nations; but China is not most nations," an economist said.

He added that China requires 9% GDP growth to accommodate massive numbers of Chinese people moving east to the nation's coast. China's lower growth put pressure on commodity-linked sectors, sending energy shares and materials down by 3.7% and 3.8%, respectively. The mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold suffered the worst S&P 500 loss by falling 8.8%. "When you talk about the sectors that are leading on the way down, they're all commodity-backed in some fashion," said a trade analyst. (More money stories.)