Wall Street Stumbles Again

Nearly 2.71 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, where decliners outpaced advancers by a 3-to-1 margin. On the Nasdaq, volume reached 2.28 billion shares, as losers trampled winners 3 to 1.

"It looks like no one wants to hold positions overnight, considering what happens in markets overseas," said Paul Nolte, director of investments with Hinsdale Associates. "Nobody is willing to hold, as we don't know what foreign markets will do over the next 24 hours. Right now, investors are looking at the glass half-empty."

A decline in chip stocks weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Sector Index, the Semiconductor HOLDRs Index and the Amex Semiconductor Index all were in negative territory, dragged lower by a warning from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD Quote).

Among other market subindexes, the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index fell 2.9%, the Amex Oil Index ended down 1.2%, and the NYSE Financial Sector Index was lower by 1.7%.

The U.S. market is coming off a week where the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 4.2% and the S&P 500 dropped 4.4%, handing both their worst weekly performance since early 2003. The Nasdaq Composite plummeted 5.9% to notch its highest weekly percentage loss since August 2004.

Asian shares, whose volatility last week pressured the U.S., lost ground again as the Japanese yen rallied against the world's major currencies. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was hardest hit, down 4%. The Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 slumped 1.3%, and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 slid 2.3%.