Tough week smokes stocks Earnings jitters and oil prices spark selloff; Dow, S&P post biggest one day drop in nearly 3 years. By Jessica Seid, CNNMoney.com staff writer January 20, 2006: 5:39 PM EST
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks sank Friday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average tumbling more than 200 points and putting the world's most widely watched stock index into the red for the first time in 2006.
Disappointing results from big household names like General Electric and Citigroup (as well as Yahoo!, Apple and Intel earlier in the week) have raised concerns about corporate profits in 2006, Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co, said.
In addition, crude oil jumped $1.52, or over 2 percent, to $68.35 a barrel as tensions mounted over Iran's nuclear ambitions, adding to the jitters on the Street.
The 30-share Dow industrials (down 213.32 to 10,667.39, Charts) and the broader S&P 500 index (down 23.55 to 1,261.49, Charts) tumbled nearly 2 percent, the biggest one day point-loss for both indices since March, 2003.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (down 54.11 to 2,247.70, Charts) skidded 2.4 percent, the biggest one day point-loss since Sept., 2003.
For the week, the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq all closed lower.