Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks plunged Thursday, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s erasing its biggest rally this year, on concern that slowing growth in Europe will hurt the American economy as the Federal Reserve ends its bond purchases.

All 10 of the main S&P 500 groups dropped at least 0.5 percent, with energy stocks plunging 3 percent to pace losses. Materials producers sank 1.9 percent even as precious metals rallied. Alcoa Inc. lost 4.7 percent after unofficially starting the earnings season.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.5 percent to 1,939 at 12:54 p.m. in New York, after rallying 1.7 percent yesterday. The Russell 2000 Index dropped 2.2 percent, the most since July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 271.72 points, or 1.6 percent, to 16,722.50, trimming its gain this year to less than 1 percent. Trading in S&P 500 stocks was 29 percent above the 30-day average at this time of day.

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