Skip navigation
Newswire

U.S. stocks extend losses, Philip Morris weighs

(Updates to early afternoon, changes byline)

NEW YORK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Blue chips extended losses on Friday as investors worried about sagging corporate profits after cigarette maker Philip Morris Cos. Inc. became the latest high-profile company to slash its profit outlook.

Technology stocks erased gains, sliding into negative territory in early afternoon trading.

"We still have earnings problems, economic growth problems and international problems -- and until those get straightened out the market is not going to do anything," said James Volk, managing director of equity trading at D.A. Davidson and Co.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 183.11 points, or 2.29 percent, at 7,814.01. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 16.06 points, or 1.88 percent, at 838.89. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was down 2.7 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,218.91.

For the week so far, the Dow is down more than 1.5 percent percent, the S&P 500 is near unchanged and the Nasdaq is up more than 0.5 percent. The market has already suffered four straight weeks of declines.