Financial markets fall amid economic worries

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street skidded lower in another erratic session Tuesday as investors worried that the tumbling economy may not only cripple mortgage lenders such as Countrywide Financial Corp., but also create problems for other companies such as AT&T Corp. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 200 points.

Investors tried to take the market higher at many points during the day, but eventually succumbed to another stream of bad news. All three indexes are down substantially so far this year, having been pummeled since Jan. 1 on worse-than-anticipated readings on the economy.

That could mean that fourth-quarter earnings reports, which start pouring in later this week, may not meet already lowered expectations.

In the morning, the National Association of Realtors said its index tracking pending U.S. home sales fell 2.6 percent in November, a larger decline than the market expected. Jitters about Countrywide and KB Home, which posted a disappointing fourth-quarter loss, kept Wall Street on edge throughout the day, and comments by President Bush reiterating the problems facing the economy likely added to the market’s uneasiness.

Many traders have been betting recently that Countrywide might need to file for bankruptcy. Countrywide denied that rumor Tuesday. Lehman Brothers said in a note that Countrywide’s earnings power has declined severely, and The New York Times reported the company fabricated documents related to the bankruptcy case of a Pennsylvania homeowner.

Late in the day, the chief executive of AT&T, speaking at a conference, said that the phone company was seeing some slowdown in its consumer businesses. That was the last straw for the market, and sent stocks and the major indexes tumbling.

The day’s abortive advance was due in part to rising hopes that the Federal Reserve, seeing the same bleak economic numbers as Wall Street, will continue its campaign of rate cuts to prevent a recession. The Fed next meets Jan. 29-30.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 238.42, or 1.86 percent, to 12,589.07, after ratcheting up and down through the day.

Broader stock indicators also sank. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 26.00, or 1.84 percent, to 1,390.18, and the Nasdaq composite index, reflecting uneasiness about tech stocks after AT&T’s news, declined 58.95, or 2.36 percent, to 2,440.51.