Source: Bloomberg.com

U.S. stocks fell and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated below its lowest closing level since 2003 on a jump in jobless claims and a worsening outlook for industrial and technology companies.

General Electric Co. dropped below $15 for the first time since 1996 after Citigroup Inc. said the company faces earnings “headwinds.” Dell Inc., the second-biggest maker of personal computers, lost 9.3 percent as it was added to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s “conviction sell” list, while Intel Corp. slid as much as 3.6 percent after saying demand was weaker across its product line.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 retreated or 1.1 percent, to 842.59 at 12:44 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 83.95 points, 1 percent, to 8,198.71. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 2.4 percent to 1,464.04. About two stocks fell for each that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

“In October business just stopped, and everyone is extrapolating that to the quarter and all of next year,” said Richard Campagna, chief investment officer of Provident Investment Counsel in Pasadena, California, which manages $1 billion.

The S&P 500 fell as much as 1.3 percent after the Labor Department’s weekly tally of new claims for unemployment insurance benefits climbed by 32,000 to a larger-than-forecast 516,000. The total number of people on benefit rolls jumped to the highest level since 1983.

The four straight declines in the S&P 500 this week wiped out the index’s rebound from a five-year low on Oct. 27 and sent the benchmark for U.S. equities to a level not seen on a closing basis since March 2003.

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