NEW YORK — Wall Street is now worrying about the companies usually seen as havens.
After an early rally Wednesday, investors succumbed to concerns about disappointing earnings, and the market ended the day with a loss. Falling consumer stocks weighed most heavily on the Dow Jones industrial average, which slid nearly 122 points. Meanwhile, the tech-focused Nasdaq composite index showed only a moderate retreat.
Quarterly numbers from Kraft Foods, Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner provided the latest reminder of the economy’s struggles. The weaker-than-expected reports and a profit warning from Costco Wholesale left investors fearing that consumers are cutting back even more than most analysts thought.
“Consumer staples have enjoyed relative safety in this environment, and now these new revelations are raising questions among investors,” said Jack A. Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago.
Falling orders at Cisco Systems were adding to investors’ anxiety. The world’s largest maker of computer-networking gear said after the end of trading that orders showed a sharp drop in January. Investors have been pumping money into tech stocks since the start of the year, believing those companies would be less likely to see demand fall as businesses looked to cut costs with equipment upgrades.
Nasdaq 100 futures were down more than 1 percent after Cisco’s report, pointing to a sharply lower open in the Nasdaq composite index today.
The market had rallied early Wednesday after a better- than-expected reading on the service sector. The Institute for Supply Management said the sector shrank in January at a slower pace than in December. Still, it was the fourth straight month that business activity in services contracted.
The Dow fell 121.70, or 1.51 percent, to 7,956.66.
Broader indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 6.28, or 0.75 percent, to 832.23, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 1.25, or 0.08 percent, to 1,515.05.
“There’s so much uncertainty right now that investors are looking for any clues that the economy may be starting to stabilize and turn around,” said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group.
