Following on the heels of the Federal Reserve announcing it may draw down its $85 billion per month bond-buying program sometime in mid-2014, U.S. stocks took a flying leap off the deep end.

“U.S. stocks fell sharply in midday trading and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to the highest point since August 2011. Gold led a rout in commodity prices,” the Associated Press notes.

“The Dow Jones industrial average was down 209 points, or 1.4 percent, at 14,902 in midday trading Thursday,” the report adds:

The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down by 25 points, or 1.5 percent, to 1,603:

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq composite is down by 51 points, or 1.5 percent, to 3,392 points:

Markets are taking a severe beating:

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