U.S. stocks plummeted on Thursday, with the Dow industrials tumbling more than 300 points, on signs of further weakness in the housing market and deteriorating conditions for corporate buyouts.

The S&P shed about $300 billion in market value in the worst single session since the Feb. 27 global market sell-off, with surprisingly weak earnings reports also weighing on stocks. Even with the sharp decline, the Dow and S&P 500 are within 5 percent of their respective record highs.

A drop in quarterly profit at Exxon Mobil Corp. helped wipe out more than $16 billion in market value of the world's largest publicly traded company.

The daily drumbeat of bad news on housing on Thursday came from two of the largest home builders, as D.R. Horton Inc and Beazer Homes posted quarterly losses.

Financial shares took a beating on growing evidence that problems in the subprime mortgage market are spreading, making financing the corporate buyouts that drove the market's spring rally more difficult.

"It was easy credit that helped fuel stock prices," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. Worsening credit conditions means "less liquidity for private equity, stock buybacks, business expansion, consumer spending, global growth."

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 311.50 points, or 2.26 percent, to close at 13,473.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 35.43 points, or 2.33 percent, at 1,482.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 48.83 points, or 1.84 percent, at 2,599.34.