143 points, giving the blue chips a drop of nearly 400 points over four straight losing sessions.

Analysts said a spate of disappointing corporate outlooks last week along with ongoing fears of war with Iraq caused investors to be skeptical of better-than-expected earnings.

"The reference that the economy might not have had a demonstrable turn yet is really setting people off," said Ned Riley, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors.

Concerns about war increased after news that a gunman in Kuwait opened fire on an SUV carrying American civilians, killing one and wounding another. The U.S. Embassy labeled it a terrorist act.

"Despite the (earnings) data ­ and we have had some favorable data ­ this market is still focused on talk of war, the probability of war and the effects of war and much of that was exacerbated by the fatal shooting in Kuwait," said Alan Ackerman, executive vice president at Fahnestock & Co.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 143.84, or 1.3 percent, at 8,442.90, according to preliminary calculations. The Dow, down for four straight days, added to last week's

2.3 percent loss, which came amid cautious outlooks from companies including Intel and IBM. With two other triple-digit declines, the Dow has dropped 399.72, or 4.5 percent, since Wednesday.

The broader market also retreated for the fourth day in a row. The Nasdaq composite index fell 11.93, or 0.9 percent, to 1,364.25, following a weekly decline of 4.9 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 14.16, or 1.6 percent, to 887.62, having dropped 2.8 percent last week. The market was closed yesterday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Investors were trading cautiously, awaiting fourth-quarter results and corporate outlooks in what is likely to be the busiest week in the earnings reporting season.

Among today's losers, Merrill Lynch fell $1.15 to $40.08 and J.P. Morgan Chase declined 77 cents to $25.42 ahead of earnings due out tomorrow.

Companies that exceeded expectations last week but issued cautious forecasts traded lower again today. IBM fell 76 cents to $80.54 and Intel declined 5 cents to $16.29, having said last week that it was reducing capital spending by roughly $1 billion this year.

"The good news is companies are beating expectations. But the bad news is the next six months are going to be a difficult task and they see no change in that," Riley said.

Keeping meager corporate outlooks in mind, investors sold Ford 2 cents lower to $10.14, although the company posted earnings today that surpassed analysts' expectations by a penny a share and CEO Bill Ford reiterated that he expects the company to report full-year earnings of

70 cents a share, which is well ahead of most Wall Street forecasts.

And, 3M declined 68 cents to $125.64 despite also exceeding earnings expectations by a penny a share.

The market's losses also came despite better-than-expected news on housing construction. The Commerce Department reported construction of new homes rose by 5 percent in December, surprising analysts who had anticipated no change.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers nearly 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange where trading volume was light.