GE results, consumer data batter Wall Street

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday after General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) lowered its 2008 earnings forecast and data showed consumer sentiment falling to its lowest since 1982.

Stocks tumbled 1 percent within minutes of the market's opening as the GE news added to worries about a U.S. recession. Shortly after the opening, a Reuters/University of Michigan report showed consumer confidence plunging, hurting the outlook for consumer spending.

Shares of GE slumped nearly 12 percent, their worst decline since the market crash in October 1987. The conglomerate, which is viewed as an economic bellwether because of range of businesses, reported an unexpected 6 percent decline in earnings as well as lowering its forecast.

The company's financial, industrial and health-care segments all showed weakness, but the sharpest profit decline came in its financial services arm.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 163.25 points, or 1.30 percent, at 12,418.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was down 15.39 points, or 1.13 percent, at 1,345.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was down 32.19 points, or 1.37 percent, at 2,319.51.

(Agencies)