Retail Pummels Stocks; Dow Off 338

Poor earnings dragged the markets down today, as consumers’ reluctance to spend continues to hammer firms reliant on discretionary spending, MarketWatch reports. The day's losses capped weekly declines of at least 5% for all the indices. The Dow fell 337.94 to close at 8,497. The Nasdaq lost 79.85 points, settling at 1,517, while the S&P 500 shed 38.00 points to close at 873.29.

Nokia slashed its earnings forecast, and JC Penney and Abercrombie & Fitch reported sharply lower third-quarter earnings. Nordstrom and Kohl’s also slashed their yearly outlooks. October retail sales fell 2.8%.

• For the week, the Dow fell 5%, the Nasdaq lost 7.9%, and the S&P 500 slipped 6.2%.

(More Dow Jones stories.)