U.S. stocks dropped at Friday's opening, extending a rout which has pulled the Dow Jones industrials to a fresh bear-market low, as worries about the fate of major banks escalated.

* Fears that the U.S. government's bank rescue plan might involve nationalization and that the recession is worsening had investors scurrying toward the relative safety of U.S. government bonds as stocks plummeted in Europe and Asia.

* The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 114.22 points, or 1.53 percent, to 7,351.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 10.65 points, or 1.37 percent, to 768.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 14.52 points, or 1.01 percent, to 1,428.30.

(Editing by James Dalgleish)