Dow Drops 125 With Banks, Materials

Stocks posted losses today as financial and basic-materials firms led losses, MarketWatch reports. Alcoa, which reports earnings after the bell, fell 7.32% on expectations the steel giant will report losses of 10 cents a share. The Dow closed down 125.13 at 8,474. The Nasdaq fell 32.80 to close at 1,539, while the S&P 500 lost 20.09, settling at 870.

Citigroup deepened losses that started when it announced a deal to combine brokerage businesses with Morgan Stanley; its shares closed down 17.3%. Bank of America shares lost 12.01% as a Thomson Reuters survey predicted further contraction of the financial sector. Basic-materials stocks dropped on a sharp slowdown in demand for raw materials: besides Alcoa, US Steel dropped 12.8%, and fertilizer-maker Mosaic was down 13%.
(More Dow Jones stories.)