Bulls Take a Pounding

The Dow is now down 388 points, or 3.1%, for the year. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has fallen 40 points, or 2.8%. The Nasdaq has given back 65 points, or 2.7%, for 2007.

At the New York Stock Exchange, where trading curbs wento into effect, roughly 3.55 billion shares changed hands. Volume on the Nasdaq reached 2.24 billion. Losers outpaced winners 4 to 1.

"Once trading curbs are put in, it allows people to stabilize in order to slow down the selling," explained Suskind.

Among market subsector losers, the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index fell 3.4%, the Philadelphia/KBW Bank Index dropped 3.3%, the Amex Airline Index was lower by 2.8% and the S&P Retail Index eased 2.5%.

Before the opening bell, the Commerce Department said U.S. retail sales rose a meager 0.1% last month, weaker than expectations for a 0.3% rise. Excluding autos, February sales slipped 0.1%; analysts had anticipated an increase of 0.3%.

"We expected a lackluster number given recent weather conditions, but it was even worse," said Larry Wachtel, senior market analyst with Wachovia Securities. "These data were a little sloppy. They show how choppy the economy really is."

Also on the economic front, the Commerce Department said business sales fell 0.7% in January, while inventories increased 0.2%. Results were in line with forecasts.