Poor corporate earnings reports are pounding the stock market in a sour end to an otherwise strong week.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 200 points for its worst day in four months.
Disappointing results from three giants of the Dow — Microsoft, General Electric and McDonald's — were to blame. The broader market fell, too.
The Dow sank 205 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 13,344 Friday.
The losses came on the 25th anniversary of the biggest one-day percentage drop ever in the Dow, a 22.6 percent plunge it took on that October day in 1987.
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The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 24, or 1.7 percent, to 1,433.
The Nasdaq composite index, hammered by a second ugly day for Google, lost 67 points to 3,006, a 2.2 percent decline.
The declines were broad. Four stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was relatively heavy at 3.8 billion shares.
Earnings on Friday from large multinationals underscored the effect of the global economic slowdown. General Electric Co shares fell 3.5 percent to $22.01. The stock was one of the biggest drags on the S&P 500 after the largest U.S. conglomerate posted quarterly earnings that met Wall Street's expectations, but revenue fell short of estimates. GE, however, stood by its full-year earnings forecast.
McDonald's Corp was the heaviest weight on the Dow industrials, down 4.6 percent to close at $88.61 after the world's biggest fast-food restaurant chain reported a lower quarterly profit that missed analysts' expectations.
On Thursday, a string of earnings disappointments, including surprisingly weak results from Google that were erroneously released hours before they were expected, gave investors a reason to sell some stocks and the market finished lower.
Microsoft Corp said late Thursday its quarterly profit fell a greater-than-expected 22 percent, as sales of computers running its Windows operating system dipped and some revenue was deferred before the release of its core Windows and Office products. The stock tumbled 2.9 percent to $28.64.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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