Global recession fears drive stocks lowerBuzz up!Like this story? Share it with Yahoo! Buzz No last-minute heroics on Wall Street today as investors joined the global recession selloff — a “bear market on steroids,” one money manager said. All the indices closed down more than 3%.

The Dow Jones shed 3.6% (312 points) to 8,378; the S&P 500 dropped 3.5% (31 points) to 876; the Nasdaq fell 3.2% (51 points) to 1,552; and the Russell 2000 plunged 3.8% (18 points) to end at 471.

For the week, the Nasdaq slumped 9.3%, the S&P was 6.8% lower and the Dow was down 5.3% from last Friday.

Fear carried the day.

“There is some real panic and emotion and that often signifies a capitulation.” Andy Brooks, head trader at T. Rowe Price., told the Associated Press.

Speculation focused on forced selling by hedge funds facing margin calls. At least one analyst took comfort that the bloodletting wasn’t worse.

“It’s a pathetic moral victory, but the fact that we’re not down 1,000 is telling me the market’s sensing value,” John Lynch, the chief market analyst at Evergreen Investments, told Bloomberg.

A fwd article by jt