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By Jennifer Coogan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks suffered their biggest loss in nearly three years on Friday, plummeting on disappointing earnings from blue chips Citigroup Inc. and General Electric Co. and a spike in oil caused by geopolitical tensions.
The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 stock index posted their biggest point declines since March 24, 2003, soon after the war in Iraq began. The Dow erased its gains for 2006.
Citigroup and GE joined a growing list of companies, including chip maker Intel Corp. and Internet media firm Yahoo Inc., whose quarterly results have disappointed investors.
A surge in oil prices above $68 also battered stocks. Crude climbed on concern about potential supply disruptions stemming from Iran's nuclear plans, the targeting of oil companies by militants in Nigeria and Osama bin Laden's threat of attacks against the United States.
"The market's been watching the earnings reports very closely. We got off on the wrong foot with Citibank and GE," said Evan Olsen, head of equity trading at Stephens Inc. "You've also had oil lifting higher with bin Laden acting up and Iran acting strange which is concerning going into a weekend, so people are taking profits."
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 213.32 points, or 1.96 percent, at 10,667.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 23.55 points, or 1.83 percent, at 1,261.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 54.11 points, or 2.35 percent, at 2,247.70.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2006-01-20T215809Z_01_N19318707_RTRUKOC_0_US-MARKETS-STOCKS.xml&rpc=23

תוקן על ידי - allgood1s - 22/01/2006 2:43:50