U.S. stocks skid as GE tumbles

General Electric’s struggles weigh on industrial companies; tech firms fall

NEW YORK» Industrial and technology companies and retailers all stumbled Monday as U.S. stocks began the week with losses. General Electric suffered its worst one-day loss in six years after downgrades from analysts.

After a mixed start, stocks turned lower in afternoon trading. GE’s struggles weighed on industrial companies, while big technology companies like Facebook and Alphabet sank. Toy companies Hasbro and Mattel tumbled after Hasbro’s sales forecast disappointed Wall Street and familiar consumer companies like Amazon and McDonald’s also slumped. Investors did far more selling than buying as a seven-day winning streak ended. It was the worst day for stocks in about seven weeks, but it was still a fairly small decline, as almost nothing has seriously rattled investors this year.

“We have never seen the level of calm and the level of strength combined that we’ve seen,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide Investment Management. “Investors are kind of willing to just trust it.”

Hackett said it’s very unusual that stocks have continued to rise without any big selloffs, but he doesn’t see it as a problem. That’s because major economies such as the U.S., Europe and China have been growing for more than a year, which isn’t likely to end soon.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 10.23 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,564.98. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 54.67 points, or 0.2 percent, to 23,273.96. The Nasdaq composite dropped 42.23 points, or 0.6 percent, to 6,586.83. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks sank 11.75 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,497.49.

General Electric took its biggest singleday loss since August 2011 after analysts at UBS and Morgan Stanley lowered their ratings on its stock. GE stock has been slumping all year, but it had edged higher Friday as investors reacted positively to the conglomerate’s third-quarter results. Analysts were less optimistic Monday, as Christopher Belfiore of UBS cut his 2018 and 2019 profit estimates for GE and said it’s likely to reduce its dividend payments.

The stock fell $1.51, or 6.3 percent, to $22.32. It’s down 29 percent this year.

Other industrial firms also took losses. Equipment rental company United Rentals lost $2.92, or 2 percent, to $141.48. Arconic, which makes aluminum parts for the aerospace and other industries, fell $2.52, or 9.2 percent, to $24.65.