NEW YORK, April 18 (AFP) – US stocks plunged into the red Friday after blue ribbon investment firm Goldman Sachs was charged with misleading investors.

News that the Securities and Exchange Commission has brought civil charges against the Wall Street giant sent all major US indices plummeting, with financial firms hit the hardest.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 125.91 points (1.13 percent) to 11,018.66 points in final trades.

The tech-rich Nasdaq composite slipped 34.43 points (1.37 percent) to 2,481.26 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index dipped 19.54 points (1.61 percent) to 1,192.13.

Early trading was mixed, but the SEC announcement, and its refusal to rule out further charges across the financial sector, sent shares in some of Wall Streets biggest firms deep into negative  territory.

''The uneasiness is prompting traders to book profits from the recent multi-year highs in the major equity indices,'' analysts at Charles Schwab & Co said.

Trading got off to a subdued start despite larger-than-forecast increases in housing starts and building permits in March, as well as favorable earnings reports from Bank of America and General Electric.

Goldman stocks ended down 12.79 percent at 160.70 dollars after earlier falling as much as 15 percent.

Oil prices fell sharply Friday, dampened by an unexpected fall in a US consumer sentiment and fraud charges slapped on top Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, slid 2.27 dollars to 83.24 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for June was down 1.18 dollars at 85.99 dollars per barrel. The May contract had expired Thursday after hitting 87.58 dollars – a level last seen on October 7, 2008. ''There's been a lot of volatility throughout the day,'' said Jason Schenker of Prestige Economics.

''It's possible some of the news from Goldman had an impact, but the truth is for commodities it's not as important as something like the Michigan sentiment or just the market volatility,'' he said.