Stocks pounded as economy flashes more warning signals

— -- A cocktail of bitter economic news from overseas, Silicon Valley, the malls and the labor front soured investors on stocks Thursday and led to the second consecutive day of selling.

The Dow Jones industrial average skidded 443.48 points, or 4.9%, to 8,695.79, a painful pullback following a 486-point, or 5.1%, decline Wednesday. After this one-two punch of selling, the Dow finds itself back down 34% this year and less than 7% above the closing low set this year at 8176 on Oct. 27.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 didn't fare much better, losing 47.89, or 5%, to 904.88. Shares of companies in commodity-related businesses such as coal and aluminum, as well as commercial real-estate, led the slide. The NAsdaq composit eindex dropped 72.94, or 4.3%, to 1,608.70.

A pullback was to be expected because the market rallied nearly 18% between Oct. 27 and Nov. 4, says Joseph Saluzzi of Themis Trading. Investors remain concerned over how long and how severe the global economic slowdown will be, he says. Still, much more a slide would be troubling. "You don't want to go back to the lows," Saluzzi says.

The negative news was relentless. Stocks in Britain, Germany and France sold off by 5% or more after rate cuts by central banks in Europe. The Bank of England cut short-term interest rates by 1.5 percentage points and the European Central Bank took its primary rate down by half a percentage point. Investors worry these rate cuts indicate just how challenged the European economy remains.

Tech-networking leader Cisco Systems late Wednesday reported weak sales in October. Several retailers, especially those that sell apparel, reported weak sales in stores open at least a year.