Growing turmoil in the Middle East and a profit warning from Home Depot crushed US stocks yesterday pounding the Dow Jones industrial average to a seven-month low and the Nasdaq composite index to a close unseen in nearly a year. Its fifth largest point loss ever, the Dow ended down 379.21 points at 10,034.58, its lowest finish since March 14th. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 2.55. It was its lowest close since late October 1999. The Nasdaq composite slumped to its lowest close since November 1999.

Home Depot's slide amounted to an 83-point subtraction from the Dow. Also dragging on the Dow was J.P. Morgan & Co Inc's which fell $10-13/16 to $136 and IBM's $8-15/16 drop to $103-7/8 together sapped another 114 points from the average. Meanwhile, oil prices skyrocketed on fears of disruptions to the flow of crude oil from the oil-rich Middle East.