Wall Street had been hoping for rally when investors returned from summer holidays this week, but got just the opposite.
Analysts have said investors are hesitant to make any big commitments until corporate and economic news improve.
The market was weak throughout the summer with losses that accelerated in August on a mix of bad economic indicators, disappointing earnings and gloomy forecasts from companies. So far, the news hasn't gotten any better.
This week alone, Motorola reduced third-quarter profit forecasts and announced 2,000 more job cuts for a yearly total of 32,000. Manufacturing data was not as weak as expected, but retail reports were mixed.
Declining issues led advancers nearly 3-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange in moderate trading. Volume was 1.16 billion shares, compared with 1.04 billion at the same point Thursday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 7.75 to 445.64.
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