UAL Corp fell US$1.07, or 21 percent, to US$4.15. The airline holding company may file for bankruptcy this year, Business Week reported. UAL spokesman Joe Hopkins declined to comment.
Rival airlines slid with UAL. Northwest Airlines Corp. lost US$0.83 to US$8.19; Delta Air Lines Inc. dropped US$1.65, or 11 percent, to US$13.90, and AMR Corp, parent of American Airlines, fell US$0.87 to US$9.80, its first close below US$10 in more than a decade.
United Technologies Corp, which makes Pratt & Whitney engines, fell US$2.24 to US$65.71.
General Electric declined US$1.90 to US$29.50 and Citigroup slid US$1.42 to US$30.88. Microsoft shed US$1.34 to US$44.41.
Retailers also slumped as investors speculated their sales will slow. Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the biggest discounter, lost US$1.30 to US$46.10; Home Depot Inc, the largest home-improvement retailer, slid US$1.20 to US$28.43.
AOL Time Warner Inc, the biggest media company, fell US$0.71 to US$10.30. The Wall Street Journal said the company's accounting in American Online Inc's purchase of Time Warner Inc inflated earnings, the paper said.
Hanover Compressor Co, an oil-services company faced with a federal accounting probe, fell US$1.21, or 14 percent, to US$7.30. The company ousted Chief Executive Officer Michael J. McGhan and Chief Operating Officer Charles D. Erwin.
"It's back to some of the same negatives we've had," said Rob Cohen, a trader at Credit Suisse First Boston. "Corporate governance remains a concern."
Makers of chips used in communications and networking gear fell after National Semiconductor Corp said sales in the current quarter will be about the same as last quarter. The company had said it expected sales to rise as much as 8 percent.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc lost US$2.55 to US$29.96, Texas Instruments Inc declined US$1.14 to US$19.97 and Xilinx Inc slid US$0.84 to US$17.41. National Semiconductor declined US$0.25 to US$16.88. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 3.4 percent and has lost about half its value since the middle of March.
The Russell 2000 Index of smaller stocks fell 12.76, or 3.3 percent, to 376.45. The Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, the broadest measure of US shares, declined 199.63, or 2.4 percent, to 8,186.56.
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