U.S stock indexes plunged Thursday after investment bank Goldman Sachs advised clients to bet on the S&P 500 falling about 5 percent as an offshoot of gloomy economic developments reported in the U.S., China and the euro zone.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 214.79 points, or 1.67 percent, to 12,609.60. The S&P 500 dropped 26.15 points, or 1.93 percent, to close at 1,329.54 and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 65.93 points, or 2.25 percent, to 2,864.52, in late-afternoon trading.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve issued a negative report on mid-Atlantic manufacturing. Business activity in the euro zone declined and manufacturing in China was contracting.