Nasdaq has lowest closing of year

By Michael J. Martinez
Associated Press

The three major indexes ended the week down for the fourth-straight week, as investors sold stocks across all sectors and industries, with technology and consumer staples taking the brunt of the selloff. Associated Press

All three indexes ended the week lower for the fourth-straight week, as investors sold stocks across all sectors and industries, with technology and consumer staples taking the brunt of the selloff. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell to its lowest point of the year.

The drop was triggered by lower-than-expected earnings from Microsoft — a rare miss that unnerved investors. And Wall Street saw Amazon.com's lower-than-expected earnings and revenues as a potential sign that spending was slowing.

Combined with economic data that has pointed to what Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called a "soft spot" in the economic recovery, the week was a brutal one throughout the markets.

"You take the economic data over the last few weeks, which has been disappointing, and now all these negative earnings outlooks, and then you add in all the worries about energy prices, terrorism, Iraq, the elections — there's a lot to worry about out there," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at Spencer Clarke LLC. "It's going to take a while for these issues to be resolved, and I think we'll be stuck moving sideways to lower until then."

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 88.11, or 0.9 percent, to 9,962.22. It was the first time the Dow closed below 10,000 since May 24.

Broader stock indicators were also sharply lower. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 39.97, or 2.1 percent, to 1,849.09, its lowest closing level in 2004. The Nasdaq is now 7.7 percent lower for the year.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 10.64, or 1 percent, at 1,086.20, just 2 points shy of low for the year.

For the week, the Dow and Nasdaq fell 1.8 percent, while the S&P 500 was down 1.4 percent. It was the fourth straight down week for the Nasdaq, the fifth losing week for the Dow and the sixth for the S&P 500.

The market has been sinking steadily since early July, when a disappointing jobs report from the Labor Department ended hopes for a summer rally and also started giving investors severe doubt about the strength of the economy. Since then, other downbeat economic data and a series of surprisingly poor second-half earnings outlooks have taken the market lower, although most second-quarter results have surpassed estimates.

Days after announcing a $75 billion dividend and stock buyback plan, Microsoft slumped 97 cents to $28.03 in its first trading session after earnings were announced. Amazon.com fell $5.84, or 13 percent, to $39.98 on its disappointing report.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 1.62 billion shares, compared with 2.02 billion on Thursday.