Shades of "Black Monday."
On the 25th anniversary of the biggest one-day percentage drop ever in the benchmark Dow Jones industrial average, the index was down 200 points in midafternoon trading as investors fretted about corporate earnings.
While the drop in the Dow was not even close to the 22.6 percent plunge it took on that October day in 1987, the Dow was still down a healthy 1.5 percent to 13,343.68.
The Standard & Poor's 500 was down 1.6 percent and the Nasdaq dropped over two percent.
Earnings on Friday from large multinationals underscored the effect of the global economic slowdown. General Electric Co shares fell 3.3 percent to $22.05. 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.
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McDonald's Corp was the heaviest weight on the Dow industrials, down 4 percent at $89.17 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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