All the stories are sourced.
----------------------------
Assault on the United States Reuters
6:51 a.m. Sep. 11, 2001 PDT
NEW YORK -- Two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York as office workers began work Tuesday morning, causing huge explosions, eyewitnesses said. TV reports said several people were killed.
A plane also crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., about 45 minutes later.
President Bush called it an "apparent terrorist attack," and ordered a full-scale investigation. A Palestinian group claimed responsibility, Abu Dhabi television said.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46694,00.html
World Trade Towers collapse after terrorist attack
By Martin Cej & Jeffry Bartash, CBS.MarketWatch.com
5:35:00 PM BST Sep 11, 2001
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - International stock markets plunged Tuesday and oil soared past $30 a barrel after terrorist attacks in New York collapsed the World Trade Center towers and set the Pentagon in Washington D.C. aflame. U.S. stock trading was closed, while markets in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Toronto and elsewhere slumped in the wake of the attacks. The U.S. dollar fell against the yen, euro and other currencies, and gold soared over $290 an ounce.
"I'm not thinking of buying or selling anything, and I'm not even in New York," said Stephen Gauthier, a fund manager at the Montreal offices of Pictet & Co., a Swiss fund management firm with about $70 billion in assets.
"It is far too early to talk about the financial implications," Gauthier said. "People are talking about the death toll and not about finance. What we are seeing in the price of gold and oil is to be expected."
Both Trade Center towers collapsed Tuesday morning after a single two-engine plane slammed into one tower, then, about half an hour later, a second plane ploughed into the neighboring tower. Televised pictures clearly showed that at least one plane hit the Trade Center on purpose. Minutes later, an explosion also occurred at the Pentagon. (See full story, posted above on this thread.)
President Bush, reacting after the explosions, indicated it was an apparent terrorist attack. He said the U.S. would launch a full-scale investigation and track down the perpetrators.
No one was available to comment at the NYSE, which is located several blocks away from the Trade Center. The Nasdaq stock market was also closed.
The Federal Reserve said it was prepared to inject liquidity into the monetary system.
Stocks plunge overseas
International markets tumbled after the attacks. Frankfurt's DAX 30 dropped 9 percent in late trade to 4,257. In Paris, the CAC 40 [FR:1804546] fell 7.4 percent to 4,060 while Neuer Markt [DE:1809455] slumped 7.8 percent to 837.5.
London's FTSE 100 [UK:1805550] shed 5.7 percent to 4,746. Stockholm's benchmark OEX index plunged 7.5 percent, the Amsterdam AEX index fell 7 percent to 449 and Milan's MIB 30 dropped 7.8 percent.
In Canada, the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 Composite Index [CA:TSE300] plunged 295.90 points, or 4 percent, to7,048.80 before trading was halted.
Brent crude rose $3.20, or 12 percent, to $30.65 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange. Read more on commodity markets.
The U.S. dollar fell to 120.09 yen from 120.97 yen, and the euro rose against the dollar to 0.9040 euro from 0.8981 euro. The Canadian dollar rose to 63.89 U.S. cents from 63.78 U.S. cents yesterday.
Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU: news, chart, profile) ended the session down less than a point at 9,605.51 after swinging between losses of more than 50 points and gains of 50 points. The Dow Average plunged 235 points Friday to its lowest close since early April. Alcoa, Boeing, Eastman Kodak, International Paper and MacDonald's led decliners, while SBC Communications, General Motors, Merck & Co., Philip Morris and Microsoft led gainers.
The Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ: news, chart, profile), considered the world's technology benchmark rose 7.7 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,695 with networking stocks ($NWX: news, chart, profile) and chipmakers ($SOX: news, chart, profile) among the few falling groups. The Nasdaq 100 Index ($NDX: news, chart, profile) rose 11 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,365.
Among the broader measures, the S&P 500 Index ($SPX: news, chart, profile) gained 0.6 percent to 1,093 and the Russell 2000 Index ($RUT: news, chart, profile) slipped 1 percent.
Martin Cej is global markets editor for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco. Jeffry Bartash is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in Washington.