Stocks ended the week on Friday with their worst day since late June after Dow components General Electric and McDonald's, both barometers of the overall economy's health, added to a disappointing earnings season.
Technology shares kept up a pattern of recent weakness, hurt by anemic results from Microsoft (MSFT.O) and another losing day for Google (GOOG.O). The Nasdaq closed down 2.2 percent.
For the Dow, Friday's slide marked its biggest loss since June 21 - with the sell-off coming on the 25th anniversary of Black Monday, when the Dow plunged 22.6 percent in its worst single-day percentage drop ever.
For the week, though, the Dow still managed to squeak out a gain of 0.1 percent, while the S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent despite Friday's losses.
Wall Street's mood was sour, given that a large number of companies have fallen short of top-line expectations. Of the 116 S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far, 58 percent have missed on revenue expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.
"Traders are going to look at things that mimic the U.S. economy - and currently, everything that mimics the economy has been performing awfully," said Todd Schoenberger, managing principal at the BlackBay Group in New York.
General Electric Co (GE.N) shares fell 3.4 percent to $22.03 after quarterly revenue fell short of estimates.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/19/us-markets-stocks-idUSBRE89E0BC20121019
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