New York City ? Wall Street suffered one of its worst losses of 2007 on Thursday, leading a global stock market plunge as investors succumbed to months of worry about the mortgage and corporate lending markets. The Dow Jones industrials closed down more than 310 points after earlier skidding nearly 450.

The Dow plunged 311.50, or 2.26 percent, to 13,473.57 after falling 449.77 in earlier trading. The close was its worst since the 416.02 it lost on Feb. 27, when a drop in the Shanghai stock market rattled world exchanges.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 closed down 3.15 percent, Germany’s DAX index dropped 2.39 percent and France’s CAC-40 fell 2.78 percent.

Asian markets followed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index down 2.32 percent at the end of morning trading today in Tokyo. Chinese stocks, which hit a record Thursday, also fell. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 1.2 percent this morning.