Market diary.

The markets took a beating in the week ended Feb. 28 as a long-awaited correction culminated in the largest single-day drop since the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks wiped out year-to-date gains in 2001. The immediate trigger for the plunge was a 9 percent fall in the Shanghai market as investors in China were concerned the government was putting the brakes on economic growth. The Dow Jones industrial average, which fell 416 points on Feb. 27, rebounded a bit on Feb. 28 to close the week at 12,268.60, down 3.7 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.5 percent to close at 1,406.82 and the Nasdaq fell 4.1 percent to close the week at 2,416.15. The LABJ index of 200 local stocks fell 3.9 percent to 142.59 as 141 stocks fell and only 53 rose. Every industry sector fell, with real estate stocks taking the hardest hit, off 7.4 percent. Twenty-two stocks hit new highs during the week, but most of those were reached before the correction. Still, despite the heavy downdraft, only six stocks hit 52-week lows. The biggest loser was Fremont General Corp., whose stock fell 34 percent on news that the home mortgage lender was delaying release of its quarterly earnings statement. A sizable chunk of Fremont's portfolio is in subprime loans, and investors fear those loans are particularly susceptible to defaults.