Slumping U.S. markets went into a record-setting free fall Monday as the House of Representatives rejected a $700 billion plan to stabilize the economy.

Markets were already depressed with the Dow Jones industrial average down about 250 points. But after House members turned down the bailout, stocks plummeted, with the Dow falling 777.68 points in its worse ever one-day fall.

The DJIA settled at 10,365.45, off 6.98 percent at the close.

The day began with Citibank announcing it would buy North Carolina's Wachovia Corp. for $2.2 billion -- $1 per share.

The Standard and Poor's 500 also fell hard, down 8.77 percent to 1,106.58, losing 106.43 points. The Nasdaq composite index fell 9.14 percent to 1,983.73, losing 199.61 points.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,065 stocks rose and 2,148 declined on a volume of 5.815 billion shares traded.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose 1 30/32 to yield 3.62 percent.

The dollar was mixed Monday. The euro fell to $1.4435, compared to $1.4626 Friday. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was at 104.06 yen, down from 106.37 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average lost 149.55 points to 11,743.61, down 1.26 percent.

The FTSE index in London lost 269.70 points to 4,818.80, off 5.3 percent.