Wall Street renewed its downward slide on Wednesday, dipping below 12,000 as investor confidence continued to be hit by the crisis in the US subprime mortgage market.

Wall Street initially flirted in and out of positive territory but later later slumped as trading continued. Shortly after midday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 index was trading 0.35 per cent down at 1,373.17 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 76.10 points lower at 11,999.86.