Stock plunge deepens: Dow closes down nearly 187 points

Wall Street extended its losses for a fourth straight session Wednesday following a weak reading on holiday retail sales, disappointing earnings from investment bank JPMorgan and a global sell-off on renewed fears over slowing economic growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 187 points, or 1.1%, to 17,427. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.6% to 2011, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.5% to 4639.

Hurting the Dow was a fourth-quarter earnings miss from Dow component JPMorgan Chase (JPM). The bank posted earnings per share of $1.19, far below the $1.31 consensus among stock analysts, due in part to ongoing legal costs. JPMorgan's revenue number also came in light.

Adding to the gloom, December retail sales fell 0.9% from a year ago, far below the 0.1% gain expected.

Stock prices weren't the only thing dragged down by unexpected signs of economic weakness. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note bumped down to 1.86% Wednesday, vs. 2.17% the end of 2014.

It's been a volatile start to the year for the Dow. Tuesday, it suffered a point swing of nearly 425 points. It was up as much as 282 points before heading south and tumbling as much as 143 points before closing down 27 points at 17,614.

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Renewed turmoil in commodities also weighed on investors Wednesday, as did a global growth downgrade from the World Bank for 2015. The World Bank now expects global growth of 3% this year vs. an initial estimate of 3.4%. The downgrade is due mainly to weakness in Europe, Japan and emerging markets.

The forecast propelled copper prices to near six-year lows, and hammered several mining stocks, including Freeport-McMoran, which lost 11% to $18.74, and Southern Copper, which fell nearly 4% to $25.56.

Crude oil rebounded after its recent sharp downturn, with benchmark West Texas Intermediate up 5.6% to $48.48 and Brent crude up 4% to $48.52 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, European markets also plunged. Britain's FTSE index was down 2.4%, and Germany's DAX index fell 1.3%.

Asian shares sank as Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.4%.

On Tuesday, the Dow ended a bit in the red after a wild, 400-point swing. It finished down 0.2% — about 27 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.3% — a little more than 5 points — after being up as much as 30 points. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 0.1%.

Contributing: Gary Strauss, The Associated Press