NEW YORK — Stocks finished sharply lower Monday after zigzagging throughout the day as investors pored over more signs of economic weakness, including a huge round of layoffs in the financial sector.
After a turbulent week that sent the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 340 points, the index lost an additional 223 points Monday.
In a signal that banks are still struggling in the wake of massive losses tied to bad mortgage debt, Citigroup Inc. said it would remove about 52,000 jobs from its payroll in the coming quarters.
Investors were also nervously waiting to see whether Detroit's troubled automakers would get a bailout. Senate Democrats planned to introduce legislation Monday that would use funds from the $700-billion financial rescue measure to prop up General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler. The Bush administration opposes using those funds to help the carmakers. A vote was expected as early as Wednesday.
GM shares rose 17 cents to $3.18. Ford slipped 8 cents to $1.72.
A better-than-expected reading on industrial production did little to boost the market's mood. The Federal Reserve said industrial output rose 1.3% last month, after plunging in September by the largest amount in more than 60 years. Economists, on average, had expected an increase of 0.2%, according to a survey by Thomson/IFR.
For most investors, the report wasn't a concrete enough sign of improvement in the economy, said Anthony Conroy, managing director and head trader at BNY ConvergEx Group.
"I think we're seeing a tremendous amount of bad economic data," he said. "Earnings have basically hit a wall and don't seem like they are coming back any time soon."
Wall Street was also disappointed by a lack of direction taken to resolve the global financial crisis at the meeting of Group of 20 international leaders in Washington this weekend. However, the leaders did pledge to keep working together to provide loans to financial institutions.
The Dow slid 223.73 points, or 2.6%, to 8,273.58, near its lows of the session.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 22.54 points, or 2.6%, to 850.75, while the Nasdaq composite index dropped 34.80 points, or 2.3%, to 1,482.05.
The Russell 2,000 index of smaller companies fell 1.1%.
Falling stocks outpaced advancers by a 2 to 1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange.
Monday's declines followed losses last week of 5% for the Dow, 6.2% for the S&P 500 and 7.9% for the Nasdaq. The major indexes have fallen for four of the last five sessions.
