4:10PM EST: Stocks skidded again Wednesday, closing around 450 points down, even after the government bailed out insurance giant American International Group (AIG) Inc.

Wednesday trading dipped to more than 400 throughout the day with anxieties about the financial system still running high.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the biggest U.S. securities firms, tumbled the most ever in New York trading after a government rescue of American International Group (AIG) Inc. failed to ease the credit crisis. The cost to protect against a default by the banks rose to a record.

Goldman fell as much as 26 percent on the New York Stock Exchange and Morgan Stanley plunged 44 percent, leading financial stocks to the lowest level in four years.

Meanwhile, gold surged the most in nine years as investors sought the safety of precious metals on concern that the credit crisis will deepen, leading more financial institutions to fail. Silver soared the most since 1979.

(Bloomberg News / WNBC / YWN Desk – NYC)