Dow falls more than 200 points as corporate earnings disappoint

NEW YORK -- Investors accelerated a broad sell-off on worries fueled by corporate earnings and questions over the Eurozone debt crisis.

Major U.S. stock indexes were down more than 1.6% with less than two hours before the closing bell on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 222 points, or 1.6%, to 13,328.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 23 points, or 1.6%, to 1,434. The Nasdaq was down 68 points, or 2.2%, to 3,005.

Tech giants Microsoft and Google first disappointed investors with quarterly drops in profit, then came McDonald’s earnings decline Friday morning. General Electric’s profit was in line with analysts’ expectations but revenue fell short of estimates.

A European Union summit did not include discussion of financial help for Spain, Bloomberg News reported. Spain is among the Eurozone countries whose debt crisis remains unresolved, and its banking system also faces challenges.

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